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SARUWAKACHO 

The  Theatre  Street  near  the  Asakusa  Temple,   in  the 
Age  of  Yedo. 


THE  NIGHTSIDE 
OF  JAPAN 


BY 


T.   FUJIMOTO 


With  forty  Illustrations  in  colour  and  tone^  specially 
executed  by  Japanese  Artists. 


LONDON 

T.     WERNER     LAURIE,    LTD. 

8   ESSEX  STREET,   STRAND 


PREFACE 

MANY  books  have  been  written  on  Japan 
by  the  Europeans,  but  as  everything  was 
observed  with  their  European  eyes,  the  true 
features  of  the  country  of  the  "Rising  Sun" 
could  not  be  satisfactorily  exhibited  by  them. 
This  book  is  written  by  one  of  the  Japanese, 
and  although  the  subjects  treated  in  the  book 
are  often  trifling  matters  and  belong  to  things 
not  very  important,  yet  it  is  sure  the  reader 
will  find  neither  fallacies  nor  misunderstand- 
ings, into  which  foreigners  are  liable  often  to 

fall. 

THE    AUTHOR. 


\The  Publishers  had  the  thought  of  giving  this  manuscript 
to  a  literary  man  to  correct,  but  on  consideration  decided 
that  revision  would  have  destroyed  much  of  its  quaint 
charm  and  oriental  atmosphere.] 


Vll 


324468 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.   ASAKUSA   AND   HIBIYA   PARK I 

II.  THEATRES   AND   YOSS&  (VARIETY   HALLS)       .          .  13 

III.  YOSHIWARA 20 

IV.  THE    GINZA   STREET 28 

V.   HOTELS,   INNS,   AND   FREE  LODGINGS     ...  43 

VI.   GEISHA:     RESTAURANTS   AND  MACHIAl         .          -55 

VII.   PUBLIC   BATH-HOUSES 70 

VIII.   THE  SHIMBASHI   STATION   TO   SHINAGAWA     .          .  77 

IX.    AMATEUR  WRESTLING  IN   SUMMER   EVENING         .  85 

X.   GREAT   FIREWORKS   AT  RYOGOKU  ....  IO2 

XI.   AUTUMN  NIGHT 113 

XII.  MARKETS   NEAR   THE   END   OF   A  YEAR  .          .123 

XIII.   CONFLAGRATION 137 

XIV.   WINTER   NIGHT  : — 

A. — Kammairi,  or  Temple  Visitors  in  the  Coldest 

Season 151 

B. — Otakara-uri,   or    Sellers    of  Treasure-boat 

Sheets 155 

'  C.—Sobaya,  or  Buckwheat  Shops         .         .        .  1 59 

D. — Amma,  or  Shampooers 160 

ix 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

XV.  WINTER  NIGHT  (continued) 

E. — Nabeyaki-udon^   or    Hawkers   of  Macaroni 

cooked  and  served  in  pots          .        .        .164 

F. —  Yakiimoya,  or  Shops  of  Roast  Sweet  Potato  166 

G. — In  the  Age  of  Yedo 169 

H.—Mochi-Tsttki 172 

XVI.  THE  KARUTA-KAI  (MEETING  FOR  CARD-PLAYING 

IN   A  JANUARY   NIGHT) 175 

XVII.   KAMEIDO      NOTED      FOR     PLUM     AND      WISTARIA 

FLOWERS igi 

XVIII.   CHERRY  BLOSSOMS   AT   PARK   UYENO     .           .          .  188 

XIX.    THE  RIKZSHA-MAN IQ_IJ 

XX.   KYOTO 205 

XXI.   OSAKA ...  221 

INDEX 235 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


'REET    IN    ASAKUSAj- 
BIYAf 


SARUWAKACHO.      THE  THEATRE  STREET  NEAR 

THE    ASAKUSA    TEMPLE,    IN    THE    AGE    OF 

YEDO      . 

THE  ASAKUSA  TEMPLE 
THE    CINEMATOGRAPH    STREET 

PARK J 

THE   FLOWER   GARDEN   IN   HIBIYA   PARK 
THE    POND   AND    SUMMER-HOUSE    IN    HIBIYA 

PARK J 

THE  NIOMON  GATE  IN  ASAKUSA  PARK  .  \ 
THE  JUNIKAI  (TWELVE  -  STORY  TOWER)  INJ- 

ASAKUSA  PARK J 

GIRLS  SINGING  IN  THE  VARIETY  HALL  (YOSS£) 
KOSHIRO  I  ACTOR  OF  THE  TEIKOKU  GEKIJO  . 
THE  TEIKOKU  GEKIJO  (IMPERIAL  THEATRE) | 

THE  KABUKIZA  THEATRE  / 

RITSUKO  :   ACTRESS  OF  THE  TEIKOKU  GEKIJO\ 
BAIKO  :    ACTRESS    OF   THE    TEIKOKU  GEKIJO) 
A  YOSHIWARA  GIRL  IN   FULL  DRESS 
A     FAVOURITE     IN     HER     PROCESSION     UNDER 

CHERRY  BLOSSOMS  AT  YOSHIWARA     . 
A    FRONT  WINDOW   IN   A  YOSHIWARA   HOUSE   . 
THE  NAKAMISE   STREET   IN   ASAKUSA   PARK 
THE  STREET  OF  GINZA 
A  SUSHI  STALL    .... 
A   TOBACCO  PIPE  MENDER 
A   MENDICANT   FRIAR 

XI 


N   ASAKUSA  PARK    \ 


Frontispiece 
To  face  p.      4 

8 

„     10 

12 
»     14 

16 

18 
20 

22 
»      24 

28 


30 

44 
46 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


MARIKO,  A  STAGE  ON  THE  HIGHWAY  OF 
TOKAIDO,  IN  THE  AGE  OF  YEDO 

A  BARRIER  ON  THE  HIGHWAY  OF  TOKAIDO, 
IN  THE  FEUDAL  AGE 

UMEGATANI,  A  CHAMPION  WRESTLER,  WITH 
HIS  TWO  DISCIPLE  WRESTLERS,  AND  AN 
UMPIRE 

A  K&RIYA,  OR  ICE-SHOP 

STALLS  OF  KUMADE  AT  TORINOMACHI  (GOD 

EAGLE'S  FESTIVAL) 

THE  COAST  OF  SUSAKI  IN  THE  AGE  OF  YEDO 
THE  GREAT  CONFLAGRATION  AT  KANDA 

THE  KAMMAIRI 

THE  TEMPLE  OF  FIVE  HUNDRED  BUDDHA'S 

DISCIPLES,  IN  THE  AGE  OF  YEDO     . 
THE  YAKIIMOYA)  OR  SHOP  OF  ROAST  SWEET 

POTATOES     

PLAYING  OF  THE  POEM  CARDS 

THE  DRUM  BRIDGE  AND  WISTARIA  TRELLISESl 

AT  KAMEIDO 

LAKE  SHINOBAZU,    THE   LOTUS  POND  BELOW 

THE  HILL  OF  UYENO  . 
CHERRY    BLOSSOMS    AT    UYENO     PARK  ;     THE 

IMAGE  OF  BUDDHA  AND  THE  BELL  TOWER 

A  RIKISHA-WLAN 

THE     OPEN     FLOOR     ON     THE     RIVER     KAMO, 

KYOTO  

THE    COURT    NOBLE'S    VEHICLE     IN     ANCIENT 

TIMES 

DANCING-GIRLS   IN  THE  EVENING,  OSAKA 


To  face  p.  78 

80 


86 
1  02 

124 
128 
138 
152 

164 
166 


178 


1 88 
196 

206 
208 

222 


Xll 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

CHAPTER   I 
ASAKUSA  AND  HIBIYA  PARK 

THE  Asakusa  is  the  centre  of  pleasure  in  Tokyo. 
People  of  every  rank  in  the  city  crowd  in  the  park 
day  and  night — old  and  young,  high  and  low,  male 
and  female,  rich  and  poor.  It  is  also  a  haunt  of 
ruffians,  thieves,  and  pickpockets  when  the  curtain  of 
the  dark  comes  down  over  the  park.  All  houses  and 
shops  along  each  street  in  the  park  are  illuminated 
with  the  electric  and  gas  lights.  The  most  noisy 
and  crowded  part  is  the  site  of  cinematograph  halls. 
In  front  of  a  hall  you  see  many  large  painted  pictures, 
illustrating  kinds  of  pictures  to  be  shown  in  the 
hall,  and,  at  its  entrance,  three  or  four  men  are 
crying  to  call  visitors :  "  Come  in,  come  in  !  Our 
pictures  are  newest  ones,  most  wonderful  pictures ! 
Most  lately  imported  from  Europe  ! "  Men  of 
another  hall  cry  out:  "Our  hall  gives  the  photo- 
graphs of  a  play  performed  by  the  first  -  class 
actors  in  Tokyo ;  pictures  of  the  revenge  of  Forty 
Seven  Rdnme/"  Tickets  are  sold  by  girls  in 
a  booking  -  box  near  the  entrance  of  each  hall ; 
they  are  dressed  in  beautiful  uniforms,  their  faces 
painted  nicely,  receiving  guests  with  charming  smiles. 
Most  of  the  Japanese  carry  geta  (clogs)  under  their 
feet,  instead  of  shoes  or  boots,  and  specially  so 
are  the  females.  When  you  come  into  the  door 

I  A 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

of  a  hall,  tickets  are  to  be  handed  to  the  men, 
who  furnish  you  zori  (a  pair  of  straw  or  grass- 
slippers)  in  place  of  your  geta,  and  you  must  not 
forget  to  receive  from  them  a  wood-card  marked  with 
numerals  or  some  other  signs — the  card  being  the 
cheque  for  your  clogs.  When  you  step  on  upstairs 
you  are  received  by  another  nice  girl  in  uniform, 
who  guides  you  to  a  seat  in  the  hall.  Now  the 
hall  is  full  of  people;  it  seems  that  there  is  no 
room  for  a  newcomer,  but  the  guide  girl  finds 
out  a  chair  among  the  crowd  and  adjusts  it  to  you 
very  kindly.  Pictures  of  cinematograph  are  shown 
one  after  another,  each  being  explained  by  orators 
in  frock  or  evening  coat.  Between  the  photograph 
shows  performance  of  comic  actors  or  jugglers  is 
given.  After  the  end  of  each  picture  or  performance 
there  is  an  entr'acte  of  three  or  five  minutes,  and 
in  this  interval  sellers  of  oranges,  milk,  cakes, 
sandwiches,  etc.,  come  into  the  crowds,  and  are 
crying  out :  "  Don't  you  want  oranges  ?  Nice  cakes  ! 
New  boiled  milk  !  etc.,  etc."  The  show  of  cinemato- 
graph is  closed  at  about  12  P.M.,  and  all  people  flow 
out  of  the  hall.  Where  will  they  go  hence?  Of 
course  most  of  them  go  to  their  home,  but  a  part 
of  them — young  fellows  among  others — runs  to  the 
Dark  Streets  of  the  park,  or  Yoshiwara,  the  licensed 
prostitution  quarter  near  the  park. 

Leaving  the  cinematograph  hall  at  about  eleven, 
you  will  visit  a  small  restaurant  in  a  street  just 
behind  the  cinematograph  ground,  and  find  many 
people  drinking  and  eating ;  glasses  of  Japanese 
sake  (wine),  beer,  whisky,  and  all  kinds  of  liquors 
are  served  very  cheap.  Near  the  counter  of  the 
bar  the  host  or  hostess  is  standing,  and  some  six 
or  seven  young  waitresses,  all  sixteen  to  twenty 
years  old,  are  attending  the  guests.  People  who 
come  to  the  restaurant  are  almost  all  below  the 
middle  class,  and  women  come  very  rare.  You 
can  have  dishes  of  European  food  with  very  nice 

2 


ASAKUSA  AND   HIB1YA  PARK 

taste,  which  are  very  cheap — ten  to  fifteen  sen 1  per 
dish.  After  satisfying  your  appetite  with  these 
cheap  wines  and  dishes  you  again  go  over  to  another 
quarter  of  the  park  beyond  the  Asakusa  Pond. 
Both  sides  of  the  streets  of  the  quarter — called  the 
Dark  Quarter  or  Streets,  for  no  lamps  allowed 
within  shops  here,  except  entrance  lanterns  —  are 
arranged  with  rows  of  small  houses  almost  all  equal 
in  size  and  equipment.  The  common  names  of  these 
houses  are  Meishuya  (Drinking  -  shops),  Shinbun- 
jiiran-sho  (Newspaper  Reading  Halls),  and  Kitchaten 
(Tea-shops),  whose  open  occupations  are  to  sell 
wine,  read  papers  and  serve  tea  respectively;  but 
their  real  business  is  taken  by  courtesans.  In  each 
of  these  houses  there  are  at  least  three  or  four, 
sometimes  six  to  ten,  girls  who  are  said  to  serve 
wine  or  tea;  they  are  all  young,  from  fourteen  to 
twenty,  dressed  in  silk  clothes.  If  you  stroll  down 
a  street  screams  of  the  girls  dash  out  of  the  windows 
of  each  house  :  "  Come  in,  gentlemen,  come  in !  I 

know  you,  Mr !     Wait  a  bit,  come  in,  I  want 

to  speak  you,  sir ! "  At  the  door  of  a  shop  two 
young  fellows  in  style  of  workman  are  whispering 
with  a  girl,  and  after  a  few  minutes  go  into  the  shop 
and  disappear  into  a  room  behind  the  shop,  or  up- 
stairs. Some  contracts  have  been  fixed  up  between 
them.  The  hostess  is  avaricious,  and  if  a  provincial 
is  caught  into  the  trap  his  purse  shall  be  emptied 
in  a  few  hours.  The  quarter  of  the  park,  together 
with  the  compound  of  cinematographs  and  other 
show  halls,  is  generally  called  the  Rokku  (Sixth 
District)  of  Asakusa. 

After  going  round  the  dark  streets,  in  spite  of 
showers  of  girls'  screams,  you  come  to  another  road 
north  to  the  Rokku^  and  here  many  smaller  Japanese 
restaurants  or  eating  -  houses  are  to  be  found ; 
tempura-ya  (fry),  soba-ya  (buckwheat  or  maccaroni), 
sushiya  (boiled  and  vinegared  rice  mixed  with 

1  A  sen  is  equal  to  an  English  farthing. 

3 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

fish,  eggs  and  vegetables),  gyu-ya  (beef  and  pork), 
etc.  At  the  east  end  of  the  street  there  stands 
a  tall  hexagonal  brick  building  in  twelve  stories  ; 
its  name  is  the  Ryounkaku  (Tower  piercing  through 
clouds),  and  popularly  called  Junikai  (Twelve  Story 
Tower).  When  the  tower  was  first  built  the  elevator 
was  furnished  for  visitors ;  but  shortly  afterwards 
as  there  happened  an  unfortunate  event,  owing 
to  incomplete  adjustments  of  the  machine,  it  was 
abolished  by  order.  You  step  up  to  the  top  of 
the  tower  by  the  spiral  steppings  and,  in  rooms 
of  each  story,  various  kinds  of  toys  and  other 
articles  are  sold,  or  fine  pictures  and  photographs 
are  hung  against  walls.  In  1911,  one  winter  night 
at  about  eleven,  a  young  man  jumped  down  over 
the  balcony  of  the  eleventh  story  of  the  tower 
and  killed  himself,  crushing  his  body  upon  the 
ground.  After  this  event  the  windows  and  balconies 
above  ten  story  are  entirely  covered  with  wire-nets. 
Stepping  down  the  tower  you  enter  a  beef  shop 
(gyu-ya)  just  below  the  tower ;  it  is  now  one  o'clock 
A.M.  and  there  some  twenty  or  thirty  labourers  or 
workmen  of  the  lowest  class  are  drinking  sake, 
and  devouring  beef,  pork,  or  even  horseflesh  from 
the  boiling  pans  on  square  tables  arranged  in  a 
broad,  dusky  room.  When  you  enter  the  room  your 
nose  is  attacked  by  the  stinging  smell  of  bad  sake 
and  boiling  flesh,  mixed  with  the  odour  of  cheap 
tobacco  smoke,  which  fills  the  room  and  whirls 
like  dense  clouds.  Maid-servants  of  ugly  face  and 
on  rusty  garment  carry  bottles  of  sake  and  plates 
of  flesh,  and  their  chattering  and  laughing  with 
customers  are  noisy  and  disgusting.  Among 
these  customers  there  may  be  thieves,  pickpockets, 
and  gamblers,  who  have  come  in  this  house  in 
triumph  for  their  victories.  They  drink  and  drink 
till  morning,  and  it  is  not  seldom  that  they  make 
quarrels  at  last,  throwing  bottles  and  breaking 
porcelains. 

4 


THE    ASAKUSA    TEMPLE. 


THE   CINEMATOGRAPH    STREET   IN   ASAKUSA   PARK. 


ASAKUSA  AND   HIBIYA  PARK 

Getting  out  of  the  gyu-ya  you  pass  the  bridge 
over  the  pond  and  come  to  a  quiet  quarter.  The 
quarter  is  dark,  the  sky  concealed  by  dense  leaves 
of  trees  and  two  or  three  lamp  lights  seen  in  the 
distance.  In  this  part  of  mimic  wood  a  few  benches 
are  set  down,  and  old  men  and  boys  are  sleeping 
upon  them.  To  the  north  of  the  wood  a  large 
building  of  the  Kwannon  Temple,  the  patron  of 
Asakusa  people,  or  rather  of  the  whole  Tokyo,  stands 
like  a  giant.  It  is  wonderful  that  if  you  approach 
the  temple,  and  look  in  under  the  floor  of  its  broad 
veranda,  you  would  find  some  four  or  five  dozen 
of  men,  women,  and  children  are  in  sound  sleep, 
with  no  covers  over  their  bodies,  and  embracing  one 
another — if  they  can  get  any  cover  it  is  old  straw 
mat !  Where  have  they  come  from,  and  why  are 
they  lying  in  such  a  place?  They  are  beggars 
and  outcasts ;  it  is  not  rare  that  boys  are  picked 
up  by  pickpockets  and  cultured  to  their  honourable 
profession. 

In  another  quiet  quarter,  just  behind  the  temple, 
there  is  the  nest  of  so-called  Asakusa  geisha  (singing- 
and  dancing-girls)  and,  around  the  quarter,  you  can 
find  a  number  of  rather  bigger  restaurants,  where 
these  girls  of  singing  and  dancing  are  seen  going  in 
and  out  night  and  day. 

In  the  same  quarter,  to  the  back  of  the  temple  and 
in  neighbourhood  of  the  geisha  nest,  you  see  a  group 
of  small  photographers'  studios.  At  the  entrance  of 
each  shop  a  number  of  various  photos  are  shown  in 
a  large  frame  hanging  against  the  wall,  and  a  man  is 
standing  near  the  door.  If  you  approach  and  look 
at  these  photos  at  once  he  comes  to  you  and  per- 
suades to  try  a  piece,  priding  that  you  can  have  one 
in  an  instant,  as  they  are  prepared  with  the  latest 
camera,  and  that  the  price  is  very  cheap,  only  fifty  sen 
per  set  of  cabinet  (three  pieces  per  set).  When  you  are 
led  by  him  into  a  room  of  the  photographer's  house 
he  shows  you  two  or  three  albums  on  the  table  as 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

specimens,  and  you  find  all  photos  in  these  books  are 
nicely  taken.  Being  led  into  another  room  to  take 
photo,  you  would  be  surprised  to  find  that  everything 
in  the  room  is  of  old  fashion,  the  apparatus  itself 
appearing  to  be  one  of  half  a  century  ago.  When 
you  get  out  of  the  room  and  look  on  your  watch  it 
took  twenty  minutes  in  the  room  I  Further  you  are 
compelled  to  wait  thirty  minutes  more  in  a  gloomy 
room,  served  with  only  a  cup  of  cold  tea,  and  wearied 
by  the  long  time,  and  angry  with  the  cold  treatment, 
you  are  about  to  leave  the  shop  paying  money  and 
without  photo,  when  the  photographer  appears  with 
photos  in  his  hand,  apologising  for  the  unsatisfactory 
result  owing  to  bad  adjustment  of  rays,  and  excusing 
himself  for  having  taken  so  long  time.  When  you 
take  the  photos  and  look  on  them,  you  cannot  help 
to  burst  out  laughing.  What  a  queer  and  funny  face, 
like  a  monkey !  You  run  out  of  the  house,  casting 
out  fifty  sen  silver  on  the  table.  No  wonder,  the  so- 
called  specimen  photos  in  their  albums  and  show 
frame  have  been  brought  from  some  other  studio  ! 

You  come  round  to  the  front  of  the  Asakusa  Temple. 
The  entrance  street  or  royal  road  to  the  temple  is 
famous  under  the  name  of  Nakamist  (arcade  within 
the  limits  of  the  temple  domain),  which  is  a  long 
straight  road  paved  with  stones,  and  on  each  side  a 
row  of  small  brick  buildings  all  in  two  stories  are  in 
a  very  regular  line.  Shops  of  toys,  cakes,  and  haber- 
dashers occupy  the  red  matchboxlike  establishments, 
which  attract  girls  and  children  assembling  here  night 
and  day.  The  north  end  of  the  street  leads  to  Nio- 
mon  (Gate  of  Devas),  the  red  great  gate  of  the  temple. 
The  merchants  of  the  arcade  shut  up  their  shops 
at  12  P.M.;  after  the  hour  the  street  is  dark  and 
lonely,  just  in  contrast  to  deafening  noise  of  the  day- 
time throng. 

South  end  and  threshold  of  the  Nakamise  street 
has  a  popular  name  of  the  Kaminari-mon  (Gate  of 
Thunder  God)  ;  at  present  there  is  no  trace  of  the 

6 


ASAKUSA  AND   HIBIYA  PARK 

gate,  but  people  call  the  point  by  the  old  name  of 
the  gate,  which  was  burnt  down  by  a  fire  some  fifty 
years  ago.  About  twenty  yards  east  to  the  so-called 
Thunder  Gate  there  is  a  famous  cabaret  called  the 
Kamiya  Bar.  It  is  a  new  bar  established  by  Mr 
Kamiya,  a  brewer,  three  years  ago,  and  gives  satis- 
faction to  drinkers  by  supplying  very  cheap  liquors 
brewed  at  his  own  brewery ;  the  drinks  most  popular 
and  peculiar  to  the  bar  are  electric  brandy,  Keiran- 
shochu  (a  kind  of  egg-nog),  and  whisky.  If  you  visit 
the  bar  about  the  time  the  electric  lamps  in  streets 
are  lighted,  you  find  the  seats  in  the  bar  are  fully 
occupied,  mostly  by  the  lower  middle-class  people, 
who  have  just  dropped  in  here  on  their  way  home 
from  their  day-work.  It  is  funny  to  read  a  notice 
on  the  wall  of  the  saloon :  "  Up  to  3  glasses  of 
Electric  Brandy,  Keiran-shochu  or  Whisky  can  be 
served,  and  Never  More." 

The  backside  of  the  long  bar  is  entirely  glazed  with 
big  glasses,  and  long  tables  covered  with  white  porce- 
lain slates  are  disposed  in  four  lines  below  the  bar. 
Drinks  are  served  by  bar  boys,  but  no  waitresses ;  as 
for  relishes,  sausage,  kon-nyaku,  boiled  beans,  or  bean- 
curd  can  be  preferred.  At  the  middle  part  of  the  first 
table  there  is  a  group  of  three  navvies,  one  of  whom 
already  emptied  up  his  three  glasses  of  brandy  and  two 
plates  of  beans  and  two  of  bean-curd.  His  stomach 
being  not  yet  satisfied,  he  orders  more  relishes  and 
more  drinks,  but  a  boy  politely  tells  him  that  he  can 
take  more  food,  but  that  the  drink  over  three  glasses 
cannot  be  served  according  to  the  regulation  of  the 
shop.  The  drunkard  seems  to  be  unpleasant  by  the 
refusal,  and  is  grumbling  against  the  boy.  After  a 
few  minutes  his  eyes  gleam  and,  suddenly  calling 
one  of  his  two  comrades,  he  groans  out :  "  I  say, 
Kuma,  you  are  always  weak  to  drinks,  and  this 
evening  you  took  two  glasses  already.  That's  queer ! 
I  think  you  want  no  more.  Let  me  have  your  spare 
glass ! "  Mr  Kuma  consents  at  once  and  orders  his 

7 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

glass.  One  glass  full  of  purple  brandy  is  instantly 
brought  by  a  boy  before  Kuma,  and  the  drunkard 
takes  it  in  exchange  with  his  empty  glass.  The 
latter  is  very  proud  of  the  success  of  his  stratagem. 

A  girl  about  ten  years  old  is  peeping  into  the  hall 
from  the  entrance,  and  a  bar  boy  having  perceived 
her  beckons  her  to  enter.  She  comes  in,  and  the  boy 
asks  her  what  she  wants.  The  little  girl,  dressed  in 
dirty  clothes  and  with  tousled  hair,  is  shy  by  the 
brightness  of  light  in  the  saloon,  and  hardly  speaks 
to  the  kind  boy.  "  I've  come  to  find  out  my  papa. 
Mamma  told  me  he  is  in  this  bar."  She  is  looking 
round  the  crowd,  but  could  not  find  out  her  father. 
The  boy  brings  a  stool  to  one  end  of  the  hall  and 
let  the  girl  stand  upon  it  easily  to  see  faces  of 
people  in  the  room.  Having  found  out  her  father 
at  last,  she  jumps  down  the  stool  and,  running  up  to 
a  man  sitting  by  a  table  and  drinking  whisky,  plucks 
him  by  the  sleeve.  Alarmed  by  the  sudden  attack, 
the  man  of  some  forty  years  old,  and  in  costume  of 
fishmonger,  looks  back  and,  finding  his  daughter 
standing  by  him,  he  stands  up  and  comes  to  a  vacant 
space  at  a  corner  of  the  hall.  Being  somewhat 
intoxicated,  he  asks  her :  "  What's  the  matter  ?  Why 
have  you  come  here  ?  "  "  Mamma  and  I,"  whispers 
the  daughter,  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  "have  been 
waiting  for  you  come  back.  We  don't  take  supper 
yet.  Mamma  told  me  you  must  be  in  this  bar  again, 
and  to  find  and  take  you  home.  Come  home  with 
me  at  once,  papa."  The  father  awakes  from  his 
dream  and,  after  paying  accounts,  he  drops  out  of 
the  bar,  accompanied  by  his  obedient  daughter. 

Next  evening  you  will  visit  the  Hibiya  Park.  The 
park  is  situated  just  in  the  central  part  of  the  capital, 
and  entirely  different  from  Asakusa  in  its  aspects. 
Leave  tram  near  the  east  gate  of  the  park,  and 
stepping  in  the  entrance  you  get  upon  the  mound 
near  by.  It  is  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  the 

8 


THE   FLOWER  GARDEN  IN  HIBIYA   PARK. 


THE  POND  AND   SUMMER  HOUSE   IN   HIBIYA   PARK. 


ASAKUSA  AND   HIBIYA  PARK 

broad  streets  along  iron  fences  on  the  east  and  north 
sides  being  bright  with  electric  and  gas  lamps  standing 
high  on  the  road,  trams,  autos,  carriages,  and  rikisha 
are  running  with  noises  of  thunder.  On  the  contrary, 
inside  of  the  park  is  so  dark  and  quiet  that  even  no 
sound  of  footsteps  can  be  heard.  Towards  north  of 
the  mound,  and  through  the  leaves  of  trees,  twinkling 
lights  far  distant  can  be  recognised  ;  the  lights  come 
from  a  restaurant  named  Matsumato-ro.  Just  below 
the  mound  there  is  a  pond,  in  which  an  artificial 
fountain  is  spouting  water  among  a  cluster  of  massive 
rocks  at  the  centre.  Stepping  down  the  mound,  you 
come  to  the  bank  of  the  pond,  and  by  the  twilight 
of  stars  find  a  summer  -  house  near  the  margin. 
Approaching  the  summer-house,  you  observe  two 
black  shades  sitting  close  on  a  bench  under  the  roof. 
They  are  talking  so  secretly  that  you  cannot  hear 
what  they  speak.  When  they  noticed  somebody 
coming  near  them  they  seem  much  surprised,  and 
suddenly  leave  the  house  and  disappear  into  the 
dark.  You  can  judge  by  their  figures  that  one  is  a 
young  gentleman  and  the  other  a  damsel. 

Turning  round  a  corner  along  the  pond  you  come 
to  the  quarter  of  flower  gardens.  You  go  on  the 
walk,  enjoying  the  strong  perfume  of  flowers,  but  find 
nobody  there.  A  policeman  come  round  and,  lifting 
up  his  lantern  and  after  giving  his  keen  looks  upon 
your  face,  he  steps  on  his  duty.  Passing  out  the 
garden  quarter  you  arrive  at  an  open  space  which  is 
limited  for  the  play-ground  for  football,  baseball, 
cycling,  etc.  On  the  north  side  of  the  ground  there 
stands  a  music  hall;  in  summer  evening  concerts  of 
military  and  amateur  bands  are  held  here  every 
Saturday  and  Sunday.  To  the  west  of  the  ground 
rows  of  benches  are  regularly  set.  When  you 
approach  these  benches,  again  you  would  find  some 
four  or  six  groups  of  men  and  women  seated  on  them, 
and  a  pair  on  each  bench  talking  and  embracing 
each  other.  If  they  see  flash  of  policeman's 

9 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

lantern,  or  hear  his  footsteps,  they  run  away  or  take 
refuge  into  the  bushes  of  azaleas  behind  the  benches. 
What  kind  of  people  are  they  that  visit  the  park  at 
night  and  dare  tete-a-tete  in  such  a  dishonourable 
place  ?  A  policeman  told  that  some  of  them  do  not 
only  belong  to  higher  middle  class,  but  he  had  once 
caught  a  lady  of  some  notable  family. 

Pass  a  curving  lane  in  the  azalea  bushes  and  there 
appears  a  large  entrance  to  the  restaurant  Matsumato- 
ro.  It  is  limited  from  the  outside  with  hedges  of 
evergreen  trees.  In  the  yard  around  the  building 
a  number  of  tables  and  chairs  are  arranged — in  each 
table  name  of  a  waitress  is  mentioned,  such  as  Hana 
Um£,  Take",  Kiyo,  etc.  It  is  a  rule  of  the  restaurant 
that  when  a  visitor  takes  a  seat  at  any  of  these  tables, 
the  girl  of  the  name  mentioned  is  to  attend  him. 
Now  it  is  about  eleven  o'clock  in  night.  All  tables  in 
the  yard  are  occupied  by  customers  ;  near  each  table 
the  appointed  waitress  is  attending,  smiling  and 
chattering  in  response  to  chaffing  and  bantering 
of  her  habitue.  Most  of  visitors  take  beer  and  sake  ; 
whisky  and  cognac  are  the  liquors  for  young  swells, 
and  those  mixed  with  soda  water  are  often  welcomed 
by  them. 

A  graphophone  put  on  a  large  table  is  performing 
in  its  highest  tone  a  piece  of  joruri  song  (a  kind  of 
opera  song);  but  none  of  people  seem  to  listen  to 
it.  At  one  corner  of  the  yard  you  find  a  young 
lady  and  an  old  gentleman  sitting  by  a  small  round 
table  between  them.  The  lady  is  on  her  Japanese 
dress  a  la  mode  and  the  man  on  European  clothes. 
On  the  table  four  or  five  dishes  emptied  and  plates 
of  oranges  and  cakes  can  be  seen ;  an  emptied 
bottle  of  soda  water  and  a  cup  full  of  coffee  stand 
before  the  lady,  and  the  man,  who  keeps  a  glass  of 
beer  in  his  hand  and  is  very  red  on  his  face,  is 
secretly  appeasing  her :  "  All  right,  you  are  quite 
right.  Then  what  you  want  for  me  to  do?  eh?" 
The  lady's  face  is  very  pale  and  her  answer  escapes, 

10 


THE  NIOMON  GATE  IN  ASAKUSA  PARK, 


THE  JUNIKAI  (TWELVE  STORY  TOWER)  IN  ASAKUSA  PARK. 


ASAKUSA   AND   HIBIYA  PARK 

faintly  from  her  hard-tied  lips :  "  Take  me  to 
O by  the  last  train,  and  I  shall  come  back  to- 
morrow evening."  "All  right,"  agrees  the  old 
fellow,  "  I  shall  send  telephone  to  my  house  and  tell 

my  family  that  I  have  some  business  at  O early 

to-morrow  morning."  He  then  claps  his  hands 
(this  is  the  Japanese  habit  to  call  maid-servant)  and, 
enquiring  the  place  of  telephone  to  the  maid,  he  goes 
for  it.  The  lady  left  alone  looks  after  him  and,  with 
some  derisive  smiles  on  her  face,  takes  up  her  cup  of 
coffee  and  empties  it  up  at  one  draught.  A  few 
minutes  after  the  man  comes  back ;  his  face  is 
bright  with  satisfaction  for  his  success,  and  he  speaks 
proudly,  taking  seat  on  his  chair :  "  Everything  is 
right.  Now  let  us  start."  He  pays  the  bill,  gives  a 
tip  to  the  waitress,  and  the  couple  hurries  for  the 
Shimbashi  Station.  The  waitress,  with  fifty  sen 
silver  in  her  hand,  whispers  to  her  comrades  in  the 
bar,  and  all  their  eyes  are  turned  on  the  backs  of  the 
two  now  getting  out  of  the  restaurant  gate.  What 
are  they  ? — the  drunkard  and  the  belle  !  A  big  old  rat 
has  been  caught  by  a  small  mild  cat ! 

The  downstairs  saloon  is  a  large  room  of  Japanese 
style,  with  the  floor  covered  with  mattings,  on  which 
some  six  or  eight  low  square  tables  are  adjusted,  with 
a  certain  distance  from  one  another.  The  alcove  and 
walls  are  decorated  in  pure  Japanese  fashion ;  a 
picture  of  rural  scenery  is  hung  against  the  wall  of 
alcove,  on  whose  elevated  floor  flowers  of  the  season 
are  thrown  in  a  pot,  and  a  large  advertisement 
picture  of  belle's  portrait  is  hung  on  the  wall  of 
opposite  side.  All  tables  are  occupied  by  men  and 
women ;  at  a  table  near  the  alcove  three  provincials 
are  taking  supper,  and  at  another  table,  next  to  them, 
a  young  American,  who  sits  down  on  the  matting 
like  others  (no  chairs  prepared  in  the  room),  speaks 
fluent  Japanese  and  drinks  Japanese  wine  (sake)  in 
company  with  three  Japanese  gentlemen  and  two 
ladies.  The  country  folks  are  much  surprised  to  see 

II 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

the  Yankee  very  well  trained  in  handling  Japanese 
chop-sticks.  He  seems  to  be  very  fond  of  sashimi, 
among  other  dishes,  and  as  often  as  he  takes  it  he  is 
taking  sake.  Sashimi  is  pieces  of  raw  fish  flesh, 
which  is  eaten  after  soaking  in  soy,  and  it  is  so  much 
admired  by  the  Japanese,  and  so  important  dish 
among  others  that  it  can  never  be  lacked  in  dishes 
prepared  for  any  feast ;  consequently  there  is  no 
Japanese  banquet  which  is  served  without  sashimi. 
All  foreigners,  however,  cannot  eat  sashimi  when  they 
come  to  Japan,  and  are  served  with  the  dish  first. 

The  upstairs  of  the  restaurant  is  divided  into 
several  small  rooms,  all  in  European  style.  In  the 
centre  of  each  room  a  table  and  chairs  are  put  in 
good  arrangement  and,  in  daytime,  you  can  look 
the  greens  of  wood  of  the  Emperor's  Palace  through 
the  windows  of  these  rooms.  People  who  come  to 
these  separate  rooms  are  mostly  of  rather  higher 
rank,  and  visit  here  for  refreshment  on  their  way  of 
taking  walk  together  with  their  family.  Thirsty  boys 
are  satisfied  by  cups  of  coffee  or  tea  ;  small  daughters, 
tired  up  by  walking,  lean  their  back  against  the 
chairs. 

Besides  Matsumato-ro,  in  the  park  there  is  another 
restaurant  Mihashi-tei,  which  is  of  pure  Japanese 
system  in  its  construction  and  treatment,  and  more- 
over you  can  find  two  or  three  smaller  tea-houses  at 
different  parts.  All  these  restaurants  and  tea-houses 
are  shut  up  after  12  P.M. 


12 


".  •"  !  *"* 


GIRLS    SINGING   IN  THE   VARIETY   HALL   (YOSSfi). 


CHAPTER   II 

THEATRES   AND    YOSSE  (VARIETY  HALLS) 

THIRTY  minutes  before  5  P.M.  men  and  women 
crowd  in  front  of  the  booking  offices  of  the 
Teikoku  Goekijo  (Imperial  Theatre).  The  theatre  is 
situated  thirty  yards  north  to  the  Hibiya  Park,  and 
built  in  three  stories  with  white  bricks.  It  is  the 
largest  theatre  in  Tokyo  most  lately  established  in 
European  style.  Besides  over  thirty  actors  belonging 
to  the  old  school  of  the  Japanese  drama,  there  are  more 
than  fifty  actresses  solely  dependent  to  the  theatre. 
The  theatrical  circles  of  Japan  are  classified  into  two 
schools — the  old  and  the  new.  Actors  hereditary 
since  ancient  times  are  called  of  the  old  school,  while 
those  sprung  up  out  of  young  men,  who  received  new 
education,  associate  in  a  new  school  of  so-called 
new  actors.  In  Tokyo  there  are  more  than  thirty 
theatres,  and  it  is  in  the  Imperial  Theatre  only  that 
the  opera  is  performed,  mingled  with  the  dramatic 
performances  of  comedy  and  tragedy.  The  most 
eminent  of  the  actors  of  the  theatre  are  Koshiro, 
Sojuro,  Baiko,  and  Matsusuke,  and  those  of  the 
actresses  Ritsuko,  Namiko,  Kakuko,  and  Kikuye. 
The  theatre  is  opened  at  5  P.M.  every  evening 
throughout  the  year.  The  tickets  are  divided  into 
five  classes  : — ist  to  4th  class,  and  the  special.  First 
to  3rd  and  special  class  tickets  can  be  purchased  any 
time  since  ten  days  before,  and  the  4th  class  only  is 
sold  on  the  day.  You  get  a  ist  class  ticket,  paying 

13 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

yen1  1.80  for  it,  and  are  conducted  by  a  guide-girl  to 
a  chair  in  a  box  in  front  of  the  stage.  A  programme 
is  given  by  the  girl.  It  is  still  ten  minutes  before  the 
play  begins,  and  you  come  out  to  the  corridor  to  have 
interior  sights  of  the  theatre.  On  the  left  side  of 
downstairs  there  is  a  large  European  restaurant  room 
called  Tdydken,  and  tables  in  the  saloon  are  decorated 
with  beautiful  flowers.  Waiters  on  snow-white 
jackets  are  very  busy  in  preparation  for  reception  of 
customers.  On  the  opposite  side  a  Japanese  restaur- 
ant Kagetsu  opens  its  shop  ;  the  hall  of  the  restaurant 
is  in  pure  Japanese  fashion,  and  most  of  ladies  come 
here  for  tiffin.  Along  the  long  curved  corridor  on 
upstairs  various  kinds  of  shops  are  opened :  cafes, 
bars,  sushi,  tiffin,  shtruko,  toys,  pictures,  and  photo- 
graphs. Third  story  is  occupied  by  4th  class  people. 
In  each  story,  three  or  four  smoking-rooms  are 
arranged  in  situations  of  good  prospects ;  through 
the  windows  of  rooms  facing  to  west  and  south  you 
can  appreciate  the  views  of  the  Hibiya  Park,  as  well 
as  of  the  Emperor's  Palace  Entrance  Gate. 

Orchestra  informs  opening  of  the  stage,  and  you 
return  to  your  seat.  Now  all  boxes  and  parterres 
are  full  of  visitors,  silk  dresses  and  hair  decorations  of 
ladies  reflecting  the  flowery  electric  lights  of  ceiling. 
At  just  five  o'clock  P.M.,  the  satin  curtain  is  rolled 
up,  and  there  appears  on  the  stage  a  scene  of  the 
drama  of  feudal  age.  Buzzing  and  murmuring  of 
people  is  silenced  at  once,  and  they  are  earnest  to  see 
and  listen  the  performance.  The  play  in  performance 
is  a  tragedy  in  the  dynasty  of  the  Tokugawa 
Shogunate.  Acclamations  are  given  when  the  art  of 
actors  and  actresses  come  to  its  top  of  skill.  When 
the  first  scene  closed,  and  a  figured  crape  curtain 
hangs  down,  most  of  people  goes  out  of  their  seats  ; 
men  come  to  smoking-rooms,  some  take  a  walk  in 
the  corridor,  and  some  visit  cafe  or  bars.  Ladies  come 
to  dressing-rooms  in  special  accommodations  for 
them,  or  accompanied  by  children,  buy  picture  books 

1  A  yen  is  about  two  shillings. 


KOSHIRO  I   ACTOR  OF  THE  TEIKOKU-GEKIJO, 


THEATRES   AND    YOSSE 

or  photos  of  actors  or  actresses.  The  entSacte  is 
five  minutes,  and  soon  the  next  scene  is  opened. 
After  three  or  four  scenes  finished,  there  is  given  an 
entfacte  of  twenty  minutes,  which  is  time  for  refresh- 
ment. Restaurants  and  other  eating  shops  are  full 
of  people — some  gentlemen  run  to  a  bar  and  take  a 
glass  of  whisky ;  a  group  of  young  girls  from  3rd  to 
4th  class  seats,  make  a  ring  at  a  corner  of  the  balcony, 
and  are  criticising  on  their  favourite  actors  and 
actresses.  The  play  is  over  at  u  P.M.,  and  the 
waves  of  crowd  flow  out  of  large  exits  on  three  sides 
of  the  building. 

Having  forced  out  of  an  exit,  you  come  round  to 
the  back  side  of  the  theatre,  and  there  you  find  the 
gateway  for  actors  and  actresses.  Near  the  gate  you 
notice  motor-cars  and  carriages  awaiting  their  masters 
and  mistresses.  At  about  a  quarter  to  12  P.M.,  two 
actresses  of  No.  I  class  make  appearance  on  the 
gate,  followed  by  three  commissioners  of  the  theatre  ; 
here  they  take  leave  from  the  commissioners  and  get 
in  a  motor-car,  which  runs  for  the  south  instantly,  its 
two  large  dazzling  eyes  shining  upon  the  dark  road. 
Have  these  two  actresses  gone  home?  No,  having 
been  sent  for  by  their  patrons  they  have  gone  to  a 
restaurant  at  such  the  dead  of  night ! 

By  the  way,  the  theatre  of  pure  Japanese  system 
will  be  explained.  Except  the  Teikoku  Gekijo  and 
two  or  three  other  theatres,  all  the  theatres  in  Tokyo 
still  keeps  their  old  system  and  habits  since  the  last 
century,  though  some  of  them  made  reforms  in  their 
treatment  for  visitors,  and  in  some  trifling  points. 
The  Kabukiza,  Shintomizay  Meijiza,  Ichimuraza, 
Hongoza  and  Tokyoza  (za  means  theatre)  can  be  said 
most  eminent  among  the  old  school  theatres.  They 
open  at  n  A.M.  to  3  P.M.  and  are  closed  at  10  to  1 1  in 
night,  so  that  at  least  eight  to  ten  hours  must  be 
sacrificed  to  visit  such  a  theatre.  The  seats — boxes 
as  well  as  pits — are  not  prepared  with  chairs,  but 
covered  with  mattings,  on  which  people  sit  down  on 

15 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

their  bent  knees.  Each  person  is  furnished  with 
zabuton  (a  kind  of  small  square  cushion),  which  is 
applied  between  the  matting  and  knees  (if  the 
European  visit  such  a  theatre  of  old  Japanese  system, 
of  course,  chairs  are  served  for  them).  A  box  has 
room  enough  for  six  persons  and,  the  pit  being  also 
divided  into  hundreds  of  little  small  square  boxes, 
each  pit-box  can  hardly  contain  four  persons.  Around 
the  theatre  there  stand  rows  of  two-story  houses 
and  they  are  called  Shibai-chaya  (tea-houses  for  the 
theatre).  The  business  of  these  chaya  (tea-house)  is 
to  guide  theatre-visitors,  and  serve  everything  neces- 
sary for  them  :  such  as  programme,  zabuton  (cushion), 
hibachi  (charcoal  brazier),  tobacco,  cake,  fruit,  tiffin, 
dishes,  wine,  etc.  Ladies  and  gentlemen  of  higher 
class  go  to  theatre  through  these  so-called  tea-houses, 
while  lower  people  buy  tickets  directly  at  the  entrance 
of  theatre.  It  is  a  habit — a  very  bad  habit  and  lately 
in  question  for  its  prohibition — that  people  who 
come  to  these  guide-houses  would  pay  to  them  a 
tip  of  yen  5  to  I  o  at  least,  besides  the  fixed  fee  for 
guiding.  Direct  visitors,  that  is,  those  not  assisted 
by  tea-house,  are  guided  to  their  appointed  boxes  by 
a  guide-man  called  dekata^  who  can  supply  anything 
they  want,  and  if  they  wish  to  get  his  careful  treat- 
ment they  are  to  give  him  a  silver  coin  of  fifty  sen 
too.  There  are  accommodations  for  refreshments, 
and  many  shops  in  the  interior  of  the  theatre ;  but, 
instead  of  visiting  these  shops,  most  of  people  take 
wine  and  meal  at  their  own  seats — in  boxes  and  pits — 
all  carried  in  by  maids  of  tea-house,  or  guide-men  of 
the  theatre.  The  Europeans  will  wonder  if  they  see 
people  smoking,  drinking,  and  eating  in  their  own 
boxes.  Is  entr'acte  very  short  and  no  time  to  go  to 
those  shops  or  guide-houses  ?  No,  on  the  contrary, 
very  long ;  at  least  twenty  minutes  every  interval,  and 
sometimes  half  an  hour !  Why  then  don't  they  go 
out?  No  reason  at  all,  but  a  mere  habit  of  play- 
goers since  ancient  times ! 

16 


THE  TEIKOKU-GEKIJO  (IMPERIAL  THEATRE). 


THE   KABUKIZA   THEATRE. 


THEATRES   AND    YOSSE 

The  city  of  Tokyo  is  divided  into  fifteen  wards, 
and  in  each  ward  there  are  six  or  seven  performance 
halls  named  YossJ  (Variety  Halls).  In  these  variety 
halls  the  performances  given  every  night  are  various, 
as  their  name  shows,  and  performers  who  attend  a 
hall  are  alternated  fortnightly  or  every  half  a  month — 
ist  to  1 5th  and  i6th  to  3Oth  or  3ist  each  month. 
Those  who  most  commonly  attend  the  hall  are  story- 
tellers, jugglers,  acrobats,  top-spinners,  joruri  katari 
(a  kind  of  opera  singers),  te-odori  (dancing-girls),  and 
so  on.  The  variety  hall  is  taken  as  refreshment 
places  in  night  for  people  in  Tokyo,  from  the  higher 
middle  class  down  to  the  lowest.  After  supper  you 
take  a  walk  through  a  street  near  your  house  and, 
finding  a  variety  hall  on  the  way,  approach  it  and 
read  the  names  of  performers  mentioned  on  a 
programme- board  hung  at  the  entrance  of  the  hall. 
By  paying  admission,  twenty  or  thirty  sen,  you  get 
a  wood  cheque  for  your  geta  (clogs ;  in  yosse  you 
have  to  take  off  even  the  boots),  and  when  you  march 
on  into  the  hall,  a  hall-maid  brings  a  zabuton  (cushion) 
and  a  small  charcoal  fire-box,  for  which  you  pay  five 
or  six  sen.  The  floor  of  the  hall  is  covered  with 
mattings ;  there  are  no  boxes,  visitors  taking  their 
seats  at  any  part  of  the  room  as  they  like.  Some 
halls  are  furnished  with  upstairs  seats. 

A  hall  can  generally  contain  three  hundred  to  five 
hundred  people.  The  front  of  the  hall  is  the  stage  for 
performers,  about  three  feet  high,  six  feet  wide,  and  six 
yards  long,  its  back  side  being  shut  up  with  doors,  and 
right  and  left  sides  are  passages.  Above  the  stage  two 
electric  lights  hang  down  from  the  ceiling,  and  a  fire- 
box and  a  large  square  zabuton  (cushion)  are  prepared 
for  the  performer  on  the  stage.  Upon  the  fire-box  a  big 
kettle  is  boiling,  and  steam  jutting  out  of  its  beak  ;  and 
a  tea-cup  is  laid  beside  the  box.  The  drum-beating 
in  the  green  room,  situated  just  behind  the  stage,  is 
harbinger  for  opening  performance.  First  their 
appears  on  the  stage  a  young  fSltow^fiflrrying  a  small 

17  B 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

fan  in  his  right  hand,  and  kneels  down  upon  the 
cushion.  He  is  a  story-teller — it  is  a  fashion  for  story- 
tellers to  keep  a  fan  in  his  hand.  He  bows  down  his 
body  for  the  audience  and  then,  taking  up  the  kettle 
from  the  fire-box,  pours  hot  water  into  the  tea-cup. 
After  moisting  his  throat  and  tongue  by  two  or  three 
sips  he  begins  to  tell  a  facetious  story,  handling  his 
fan,  opening  and  shutting,  and  all  audience  laugh  by 
his  jokes  and  funny  gestures.  When  he  finishes  and 
gets  down  the  stage,  a  bamboo  blind,  framed  with  fine 
velvet,  in  place  of  curtain,  hangs  down  and  covers  the 
stage.  After  a  few  minutes  clappers  beaten  and  the 
blind  rolled  up.  You  see  on  the  stage  a  beautiful 
young  girl  in  full  dress  bowing  down,  a  diamond  ring 
glittering  on  one  of  her  left  fingers.  She  raises  head, 
her  face  is  full  of  charming  smile ;  she  stands  up  and 
begins  to  dance  a  Japanese  dance,  in  tune  with  the 
samisen  (Japanese  banjo  with  three  strings),  in 
performance  behind  the  stage.  Her  long  sleeves 
wave  and  fly  like  butterflies,  her  feet  on  snow-white 
tabi  (socks),  treading  high  and  low  on  the  stage. 

Next  comes  another  story-teller,  who  gives  an 
interesting  legend,  and  then  a  Chinese  acrobat  follows 
him.  He  is  an  expert  in  handling  porcelain  plates ; 
he  sets  a  large  porcelain  saucer  at  the  tip  of  a  stick 
and  spins  it  like  a  wheel.  Next  he  throws  high  up  a 
dozen  of  small  white  plates  with  one  hand,  one  after 
another,  and  receives  them  with  the  other  hand  ;  this 
being  continued  very  quick  for  several  minutes  the 
plates  seem  just  as  white  butterflies  are  flying  in  a 
group,  sometimes  they  being  thrown  alternately  from 
each  hand.  People  claps  hands  at  the  top  of  his 
skill.  After  this  he  sings  Chinese  songs  and  dances 
his  national  dancing,  both  of  which  are  very  strange, 
and  all  people  laugh  at  them.  He  retires,  and  three 
or  four  more  different  performers,  male  and  female, 
appear  on  the  stage  by  turns.  At  about  10  P.M. 
there  comes  entr'acte  for  twenty  minutes  ;  vendors  of 
tea,  cakes  and  fruits  (and  ice-cream  in  summer),  come 

18 


THEATRES  AND    YOSSE 

crying  among  the  throng  of  visitors,  and  people  take 
these  refreshments  at  their  own  seats,  similar  to  those 
at  the  old-fashioned  theatre.  EntSacte  passes,  and 
three  or  four  first-class  performers  appear  in  turn 
again,  most  of  them  generally  being  story-tellers  and 
singing-girls.  The  hall  closes  at  half  past  1 1  P.M. 


CHAPTER  III 
YOSHIWARA  (PROSTITUTION  QUARTER) 

GETTING  down  from  tram  at  the  Thunder,  Gate 
(Kaminari  Mori)  of  the  Asakusa  Park,  you  cross  the 
park  and  come  to  a  street  along  its  north  side  just 
under  the  Twelve-Story  Tower  (Royun  Kaku  or  Juni 
Kai).  Now  it  is  ten  o'clock  in  night.  The  street 
Senzoku-machi  leading  from  the  park  to  Yoshiwara 
is  crowded  with  profligates  and  vagabonds,  all  in 
expedition  to  Yoshiwara.  One  step  out  from  the 
boundary  of  the  park  into  the  Senzoku  Street  you 
would  be  enveloped  by  rtkisha-men  in  touting,  and 
compelled  to  take  a  rikisha.  All  rikifha-meo.  for 
Yoshiwara  are  young  and  lively,  and  run  very  swift, 
cleverly  evading  people  swarming_on  the  road.  It 
takes  a  few  minutes  to  reach  the  Omony  the  entrance 
gate  of  Yoshiwara,  where  you  get  down  from  rikisha 
and  pay  twenty  sen — the  fare.  If  you  are  generous  to 
give  pourboire  of  twenty  sen  more,  your  rikisha-TCWb 
would  repeat  his  bows  to  show  his  gratitude  for  your 
benevolence.  Some  twenty  yards  distant  from  the 
gate  you  find  a  willow  tree,  which  is  named  Mikaeri 
Yanagi  (Mikaeri  =  to  look  back  ;  Yanagi  =  willow). 
In  the  feudal  age  of  the  Tokugawa  Shogunate,  it  was 
a  custom  for  prostitute  to  accompany  her  customer  to 
the  gate  to  see  him  off  on  early  morning,  but  as  she 
could  not  get  out  of  the  gate  even  a  step  by  order,  he 
was  obliged  to  part  from  his  sweetheart  at  the  gate. 
Stepping  forth  alone  out  of  the  gate,  and  coming  near 

20 


A    YOSHIWARA  GIRL  IN  FULL  DRESS. 


YOSHIWARA 

the  point  of  the  willow  tree,  he  could  not  help  to  look 
back  at  the  girl  standing  by  the  gate,  and  was  much 
satisfied  to  meet  her  lovely  eyes  and  see  charming 
smiles.  This  is  said  to  be  the  origin  of  the  name 
of  Mikaeri  Yanagi. 

In  Tokyo  there  are  six  licensed  quarters  — 
Yoshiwari,  Susaki,  Shinagawa,  Shinjuku,  Itabashi, 
and  Senju ;  and  Yoshiwara  is  the  largest  and  most 
famous  among  them.  The  entrance  gate  called 
the  Omon  (Great  Gate)  is  the  only  passage  into 
the  quarter,  and  no  other  gates  nor  passages  are 
allowed  to  use  except  on  the  occasion  of  extra- 
ordinary events.  In  consequence,  people  who  go  in 
and  out  the  quarter  have  to  pass  the  gate  in  any  way, 
and  a  police  station  is  established  near  the  gate. 
When  you  enter  the  gate  you  come  into  a  broad 
street,  on  both  sides  of  which  you  see  regular  rows  of 
two-story  houses.  The  street  is  called  Nakanocho 
(Middle  Street),  and  all  these  houses  on  both  sides 
are  called  Hikite-chaya  (guide-houses  for  the  visitors). 
You  would  hear  mellow  tune  of  samisen  and  sound 
of  drums  flowing  down  from  the  upstairs  room  of 
some  of  these  houses. 

Before  you  try  the  guide  -  house,  it  would  be 
better  to  go  round  the  streets  and  take  the  general 
views  of  the  prostitution  quarter.  There  are  six 
main  streets — Ageyamachi,  Sumicho,  Yedocho  No.  I 
and  2,  and  Kyomachi  No.  I  and  2.  Besides  these 
six  great  streets  there  are  many  narrow  side  streets, 
where  the  smaller  and  lowest  class  open  their  shops. 
At  present  there  are  in  all  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  houses  and  more  than  three  thousand 
prostitutes  in  Yoshiwara.  The  broad  street  of 
Nakanocho  (Middle  or  Guide  -  house  Street)  runs 
perpendicularly  across  the  middle  point  of  each  of 
six  main  streets,  making  a  right  angle  with  each 
street.  Turn  to  left  the  first  corner  of  Nakanocho 
and  you  come  to  the  Sumicho  street.  Buildings  on 
both  sides  of  the  street  are  in  two  or  three  stories, 

21 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

their  fronts  being  decorated  either   in   Japanese  or 
European  style.     In   some  of  them,  a   part  of  the 
front  is  limited   with   wood   fences  and,  within  the 
fence,  photographs   of  harlots  are  shown  in  gilded 
frames  hung  against  the  wall.     At  one  end  of  the 
fence  there  is  the  entrance,  near  which  a  booking 
office  stands,  and  tickets  of  three   classes  are  sold 
— yen   i,  2,  and   5.     You  go   on  along  one  side  of 
the  street  and  find  many  houses,  whose  front  con- 
sists  of  a  large   room,  and  the   street   side  of  the 
room  is  protected  with  wood  lattice ;  you  may  call 
it   their  "  Showrooms."     In  the   room,  girls  dressed 
in  red  and  purple  sit  down  in  a  row,  exposing  their 
painted  faces  for  onlookers  thronging  by  the  lattice, 
and   shamelessly   smoking  their  long  bamboo  pipe. 
Such  a  kind  of  houses  with  "  Showroom  "  is  generally 
of  the  third  class,  those  of  photographs  being  of  the 
second   class.      Two  young    men   of   student    style 
come   along    to    an    establishment  with   a   "  Show- 
room."    A   girl   in   the   room  finds  them  out,  calls 
the   name  of  one   of  the  two,   and   they  approach 
the   outside   of  the   lattice.     She   and   another  girl, 
both  being  in  intimacy  with  them,  come  near  the 
lattice  and  persuade  them  to  come  up  into  the  house. 
The   young  fellows  smoke  the   pipes  given  by  the 
sweethearts,  and  at  last  are  obliged  to  accept  their 
entreaties  ;  they  turn  for  the  entrance  and  disappear 
— the  two  girls  go  out  of  the  room  at  the  same  time 
to  attend  their  fellows. 

At  the  end  of  the  street  there  is  a  space  of  ground, 
where  you  find  some  six  or  seven  groups  of  people 
surrounding  stalls.  Approaching  them  these  are 
odenya  stalls  which  supply  hungry  loungers  with 
boiled  taro,  fish,  and  hampen  (fish  flesh  crushed  and 
massed),  and  they  can  serve  glasses  of  sake  too. 
Most  of  the  stall-keepers  in  the  Yoshiwara  quarter 
are  young  nice  girls,  who  attract  attention  of  passers- 
by.  One  glass  of  sake  costs  ten  sen,  and  a  piece  of 
relishes  two  sen  only  !  Different  kinds  of  stalls  are  to 

22 


YOSHIWARA 

be  found  at  every  space  along  all  the  brothel  streets. 
You  go  on  farther  and  arrive  at  another  street 
Kyomachi.  It  is  the  most  prosperous  and  bustling 
street  among  others,  and  beautiful  young  girls  are 
collected  in  the  second  class  houses  of  the  street. 
You  notice  in  the  throng  restaurant  boys  carrying 
boxes  of  dishes,  or  maid-servants  hurrying  away 
with  bottles  of  sake.  Looking  into  the  shops  and 
criticising  girls,  you  come  round  at  another  end  of 
Nakanocho  again.  You  are  now  bold  enough  to  step 
into  a  hikite-chaya  (guide-house),  and  the  hostess  and 
maids  of  the  house  receives  you  very  hospitably 
and  lead  you  to  a  room  upstairs.  New  green  mats 
on  the  floor  of  the  room,  beautiful  flowers  full  in  a 
large  pot  on  the  alcove,  and  a  valuable  old  picture 
hung  against  the  alcove- wall — everything  in  the  room 
makes  you  comfortable.  A  clever-looking  maid 
comes  up  with  a  tea-set  and  serves  you  a  cup  of  tea 
and  cakes,  and  then  asks  you  whether  you  want  to 
take  sake  and  some  dishes.  After  you  gave  order 
about  them,  you  add  to  hire  geisha  (singing-  and 
dancing-girls)  and  taikomochi  (jesters),  and  the  maid 
hurries  down  the  staircase,  in  compliance  with  your 
orders.  In  another  room  of  the  house  samisen  is 
heard,  and  guests  are  singing  some  fashionable  songs, 
and  young  girls  seem  to  be  dancing.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  hostess  and  two  maid-servants,  all  in 
stylish  dresses,  come  up  and  bring  a  complete  set  of 
utensils  for  sake.  On  a  table  several  dishes  are 
arranged,  and  sake  poured  into  a  small  cup.  Not 
long  before  there  appear  a  singing-  and  two  dancing- 
girls  and  a  jester  in  the  room.  First,  you  give  a  cup 
to  each  of  them  and  after  several  exchanges  of  cups 
the  singer  takes  up  her  samisen.  She  plays  it  and 
the  jester  sings,  two  young  dancing-girls  waiting  upon 
you  near  your  side.  If  you  know  any  song  you  may 
sing ;  and  now  the  dancing-girls  begin  to  dance,  and 
at  last  the  jester  performs  his  funny  dances,  mingled 
with  the  two  little  lasses. 

23 


THE   N1GHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

Now,  it  is  near  12  P.M.  and  the  hostess  comes 
and  warns  you  it  is  late.  Then  you,  guided  by  a 
maid-servant  of  the  house,  and  followed  by  three 
girls  and  the  jester,  leave  the  house  for  the  ultimate 
end.  The  house  where  you  are  introduced  is  a 
first-rate  house  called  Kadoyebi-rd  ;  it  is  situated  at 
the  first  corner  of  Kyomachi  Street  and  the  building 
in  four  stories  with  the  European  appearance  is  said 
to  have  more  than  one  hundred  rooms.  There  lives 
more  than  thirty  girls  in  this  house,  all  young  and 
beautiful.  To  each  of  them  two  young  waitresses 
and  an  old  maid-servant  are  attached  —  attending 
their  mistress  on  all  business  night  and  day. 

When  you  enter  the  house  you  are  first  conducted 
into  a  drawing-room ;  the  room  is  a  very  large  one, 
finely  decorated  in  fashion.  You  sit  down  on  a  large 
futon  (cushion)  of  crape,  and  your  followers — singers 
and  jester — take  their  seats  behind  you.  As  the 
girl,  who  is  to  be  your  mate  this  night,  is  before- 
hand appointed  by  yourself,  or  selected  already  by 
the  hostess  of  the  guide-house,  the  two  waitresses 
of  your  girl  are  sent  here  to  conduct  you  to  her 
own  room.  The  abode  of  your  mate  consists  of 
three  rooms  on  the  second  story ;  the  first  room  is 
parlour,  the  second  reception-room,  and  the  third 
bedroom.  Guided  by  the  two  waitresses  you  enter 
the  second  room,  and  are  served  tea  and  cake.  The 
singing-  and  dancing  -  girls  and  jester,  who  have 
followed  you  up  to  the  room,  now  take  leave ;  but  if 
you  wish  to  take  more  sake  here,  and  to  have  them 
attend  further,  they  are  glad  to  remain  and  assist 
your  pleasure.  If  you  are  a  new  guest  to  your  girl, 
she  does  not  appear  until  you  get  in  bedroom,  and 
this  is  the  general  rule  through  the  first-class  brothels  ; 
but  if  you  wish  to  see  and  talk  with  your  girl  in  the 
reception-room,  and  to  take  sake  together  with  her, 
you  should  pay  yen  5  extra,  which  is  called  najimi- 
kin  (intimacy  money).  When  you  pay  the  money 
she  is  licensed  to  come  in  your  side,  as  you  are  now 

24 


YOSHIWARA 

to  be  treated  equal  to  her  intimate  customer,  though 
you  are  a  new  visitor  first  in  this  night.  At  i  AM. 
geisha  and  taikomochi  leave  the  room,  and  you  go  to 
bed.  It  is  entirely  given  up  to  your  own  convenience 
whether  you  will  leave  the  house  at  2  or  3  A.M.  or 
stay  till  morning.  Anyhow,  when  you  are  to  go 
back,  one  of  your  girl's  waitresses  send  telephone  to 
your  guide-house,  and  then  a  maid-servant  of  the 
guide-house  comes  again  to  receive  you.  You  have 
no  need  to  pay  even  a  sen  here  at  the  house.  You 
leave  the  girl's  room,  accompanied  by  the  guide- 
house's  maid,  and  your  girl  and  her  waitresses  come 
downstairs  to  the  entrance  to  see  you  off.  Having 
come  back  to  the  guide-house,  you  are  to  pay  the  bill, 
in  which  all  expenses  since  last  evening  are  entered, 
and  at  the  same  time  you  would  be  wise  enough  to 
give  tips  to  the  house,  as  well  as  maids.  A  rikisha 
is  ready,  you  get  in  it,  and  the  rikiska-m&n  runs 
away  towards  the  Omon\  you  hear  at  your  back 
showers  of  thanks  poured  out  by  hostess  and 
maid-servants  standing  and  looking  you  off  at  their 
shop. 

The  way  above  mentioned  to  take  amusement  at 
Yoshiwara  is  one  to  be  done  by  the  Ai  guest ;  but  if 
you  visit  the  second  or  third  class  houses  the  pro- 
ceeding is  utterly  different,  and  very  simple.  No 
need  to  go  through  guide-house;  you  may  fix  the 
price  at  the  entrance  or  buy  ticket ;  selection  of  girls 
done  by  photos  or  among  girls  themselves  in  the 
so-called  "  Showroom " ;  sake  and  meals  served  by 
the  house  itself;  geisha  can  be  called  in  lower  rate, 
if  you  like.  One  point,  however,  very  important  for 
goers  to  lower-class  houses  is  that  they  must  be 
always  very  attentive,  otherwise  his  purse  would  be 
squeezed  out  by  clerks  and  maid-servants  of  the 
place ;  those  in  these  houses,  as  well  as  girls 
themselves,  cannot  be  said  honest  and  kind,  and  if 
they  see  a  guest  to  be  a  provincial  or  unaccustomed 
to  this  quarter,  their  endeavours  to  put  him  into 

25 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

temptations  are  so  dreadful  that  he  would  be  at  last 
compelled  to  spend  all  money  in  his  pocket. 

A  profligate,  whose  habit  is  to  visit  the  quarter 
every  night,  comes  up  t©  his  acquainted  house,  and 
next  morning  he  has  no  money  in  his  pocket.  If  his 
intimate  girl  loves  him,  she  would  be  kind  enough  to 
advance  for  him  ;  but  if  not,  she  refuses  to  take  charge 
for  his  bill.  On  this  latter  case  he  must  go  out  of 
the  brothel  to  make  money,  accompanied  by  a  man 
attached  by  the  house.  The  man  is  nicknamed  uma 
(horse),  which  is  a  very  obstinate  fellow,  and  never 
misses  his  captive  until  he  gets  the  money  for  the 
bill,  however  long  it  takes,  or  however  far  the  poor 
bird  flies  round  the  city  to  collect  money.  On  the 
contrary,  sometimes  a  girl  falls  in  love  with  her 
patron.  The  young  man  spends  all  his  money  for  his 
sweetheart,  and  falls  into  the  depth  of  debts ;  the 
girl,  too,  calls  her  lover  by  doing  her  best,  increasing 
her  debt  from  the  master  of  the  brothel  or  pawning 
all  her  dresses.  By  and  by,  the  two  can  find  no  way 
to  support  their  meeting  expenses ;  the  man  is 
troubled  by  his  debts,  and  the  girl  blamed  by  her 
master,  never  to  meet  him  afterwards.  At  the 
extreme  of  their  mutual  love  they  promise  to  die 
together,  and  finally  take  poison  or  stab  themselves 
with  a  dagger.  Next  morning  the  two  corpses  are 
found  lying  cold  in  the  bed  of  the  girl's  room.  Such 
a  tragical  end  of  lovers  together  is  called  shinju. 

Spring  and  summer  nights  are  the  most  flourishing 
seasons  in  Yoshiwara  throughout  the  year.  In 
spring,  several  hundreds  of  cherry  trees  are  planted  in 
the  street  of  Nakanochd,  and  all  branches  of  trees  in 
full  blossom  are  illuminated  with  thousands  of  small 
electric  lights.  At  the  foot  of  trees,  paper  lanterns, 
each  held  on  the  top  of  its  leg,  about  one  yard  long, 
are  lighted,  forming  a  regular  line-like  fence  around  the 
ground  of  cherry  trees.  When  the  night  breeze  blows 
the  blossoms,  it  is  a  very  striking  view  to  see  white 
petals  falling  down  like  snowflakes  over  the  lanterns, 

26 


YOSHIWARA 

Towards  evening,  the  male  and  the  female  on  their 
way  back  from  picnic  to  Uyeno  and  Mukojima  (the 
two  places  most  famous  for  cherry  flowers)  pours  in 
here  to  see  the  night  cherry  flowers  of  Yoshiwara. 
Specially  wives  and  girls  like  to  visit  Yoshiwara  in 
this  season,  because  it  is  the  best  opportunity  for 
them  to  have  a  full  observation  on  brothels  and 
harlots,  as  they  can  go  round  the  brothel  streets  in 
company  with  their  men. 

In  summer,  several  bands  of  Yoshiwara  geisha  and 
taikomachi  are  associated  to  give  special  plays  and 
performances,  which  are  called  the  Niwaka  dancing. 
Each  of  these  bands  plays  on  a  movable  stage,  wheels 
being  fitted  up  under  its  floor.  The  stage,  together 
with  dancers  and  musicians  upon  it,  can  be  carried  to 
any  place  of  Nakanocho,  wherever  it  is  requested  to 
come  by  guide-houses.  It  is  in  August  that  the 
Niwaka  performance  is  held,  and  every  evening  after 
eight  or  nine  o'clock  these  band  stages  appear  one 
after  another  in  the  street  of  Nakanocho.  On  this 
occasion  all  guide-houses  decorate  their  shops  and 
eaves  with  red  curtains  and  painted  round  paper 
lanterns,  and  invite  thejr  customers  every  night. 
Just  as  in  the  cherry  season,  people  crowd  to  see  the 
Niwaka  dancing;  when  a  stage  stops  in  front  of  a 
guide-house,  and  the  band  begin  to  perform  its 
dancing,  three  sides  of  the  stage  are  pressed  up  with 
throngs  of  spectators.  Though  there  are  several 
bands  of  dancers,  each  is  entirely  different  in  its  kind 
of  dancing,  the  comical  performance  of  jesters'  bands 
being  most  funny  above  all.  If  you  are  a  customer, 
and  invited  to  a  guide-house,  it  would  be  very 
interesting  to  call  up  a  girl's  band  to  your  room  in 
the  house,  and  see  the  flowery  dancing  of  young  and 
beautiful  geisha,  accompanied  by  the  concert  of 
drums,  flutes,  and  samisen.  It  costs  some  yen  twenty 
to  have  a  Niwaka  band  called  up  from  its  own  stage 
into  the  guide-house's  room. 

27 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  GINZA  STREET 

THE  name  of  Ginza  recalls  to  all  minds  the  most 
flourishing  street  in  Tokyo.  It  is  situated  at  the 
centre  of  the  city  and  closely  connected  with  the 
Shimbashi  Station,  the  south  gateway  of  the  capital. 
Buildings  on  both  sides  of  the  street  are  all  in  European 
style,  constructed  of  brick  and  stone.  Large  buildings 
are  all  occupied  by  big  merchants  and  watchmakers — 
jewellers,  foreign  goods'  dealers,  and  bazaars  are  most 
prominent  among  them.  Towards  the  evening,  stalls 
of  various  kinds  open  their  shops  on  the  pavement, 
and  pursue  their  business  till  midnight ;  they  are  a 
peculiar  contrast  to  those  large  beautiful  stores  in  the 
European  buildings.  About  the  time  when  the  electric 
lamps  are  lighted  in  all  shops,  you  stand  near  the  cross- 
roads of  Owaricho.  Your  ears  are  deafened  by  roars 
of  tramcars,  and  cries  of  newspaper  boys.  Electric 
trams  which  come  and  stop  here  are  overflowing  with 
passengers,  because  the  cross  is  the  point  to  change 
cars  for  them  from  four  directions.  Two  or  three 
policemen  in  black  uniform  are  standing  near  the 
halting-place  of  cars  and  endeavouring  to  restrain  the 
confusion  of  people,  and,  at  the  cross  of  tracks,  a 
signalman  with  a  lantern  of  red  and  green  lights  is 
signalising  for  cars.  At  the  north-east  corner  of  the 
cross-roads  there  is  the  three-story  building  of  the 
Yamasaki  tailor  merchant,  at  the  south-east  the  Cafe 
Lion,  and  at  the  north-west  the  shop  of  the  Hattori 
watchmaker,  with  a  high  clock  tower  on  the  top  of  its 
roof. 

28 


THE  NAKAMISE  STREET  IN  ASAKUSA  PARK. 


THE    STREET   OF    GINZA. 


THE   GINZA  STREET 

Most  of  men  and  women  who  wander  about  the 
street  in  the  evening  are  rather  of  richer  rank,  and 
come  round  here  for  shopping  by  the  way  of  taking  a 
walk.  While  you  are  looking,  the  people  pass  the 
cross-roads — young  gentlemen  in  European  dress  of 
the  latest  style,  beautiful  daughters  in  gay  garments, 
accompanied  by  their  parents  or  maid-servants,  happy 
couples  in  honeymoon,  debauchees  hand-in-hand  with 
geisha,  etc., — among  them  you  catch  a  figure  of  a  poor 
old  woman,  on  whose  back  a  little  girl  of  about  three  or 
four  years  old  is  carried,  and  the  two  elder  sisters  of  the 
baby  are  walking  close  by  the  both  sides  of  their 
mother.  The  woman  appears  to  be  over  forty  years 
old,  and  the  clothes  worn  by  her,  as  well  as  those  by 
girls,  are  of  rather  dirty,  and  her  parched  brown  hair 
is  tighted  up.  One  of  the  girls  about  nine  years  old 
is  looking  into  a  shop  of  toys  and,  pulling  a  sleeve  of 
her  mother,  says,  "  O  very  fine !  O  how  nice !  Mamma 
get  me  a  doll.  Get  me  one,  mamma."  The  mother 
silences  the  daughter  ill-temperedly,  "  Be  silent !  A 
doll  ?  You  have  good  dolls  at  home  ; "  and  pointing 
at  another  show  window,  "  Look  here  gold  watch,  gold 
ring,  and  diamond  !  Better  to  take  soba  (buckwheat) 
and  go  home,  than  to  buy  a  doll."  The  poor  three 
large  and  small  figures  go  down  the  street  to  south 
and  stealthily  get  into  a  sobaya  (buckwheat  shop) 
named  in  Chojuan.  The  shop  is  full  of  guests,  and 
the  three  newcomers  take  their  seats  on  the  floor  of 
the  right  side.  Shortly,  there  are  brought  before  them 
three  bowls  of  soba,  which  appear  for  them  to  be 
dainties,  and  are  at  once  devoured  up.  One  bowl 
costs  only  three  sen  and,  after  paying  nine  sen,  the 
mother  and  the  satisfied  daughters  get  out  of  the  shop. 
They  do  not  take  tram,  and  go  home  on  foot,  passing 
over  the  Shimbashi  Bridge. 

Having  followed  the  poor  mother  up  to  the 
Shimbashi  bridge,  now  you  turn  the  south-end  corner 
of  the  street  and  come  near  the  Dobashi  Bridge,  which 
is  situated  at  the  south-western  end  of  Ginza.  Under 

29 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

twilight  of  stars,  you  perceive  two  or  three  black 
figures  sitting  down  on  the  pavement  of  the  bridge, 
and  leaning  their  back  against  the  railing.  They  are 
beggars.  The  metropolitan  police  is  always  troubled 
by  this  kind  of  human  beings,  and  however  often  it 
drives  them  away  from  the  streets  of  the  city,  they 
come  back  like  flies.  Alarm  bells  &irikishay  bellowing 
of  motor-cars,  roaring  of  carriages  and  tramcars,  noises 
of  footsteps,  steam  whistles  of  trains — these  they 
don't  care  of  at  all,  but  they  crouch  silently  on  the 
bridge  and  are  repeating  the  habit  of  entreating, 
"  Ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  east  and  west,  favours 
to  the  old  sick  one ! "  On  the  knee  of  an  old  woman 
beggar,  a  poor  baby  of  two  or  three  years  old  is 
sleeping,  inserting  its  one  hand  into  her  bosom  to 
grasp  the  teat,  and  a  little  girl  of  seven  or  eight 
standing  by  the  shoulder  of  the  mother.  The  girl  runs 
to  a  gentleman  passing  the  bridge  and  asks  his  mercy 
by  a  pitiful  tone,  imitating  that  of  her  elders.  Alas  ! 
What  a  miserable  sight,  in  contrast  to  the  gorgeous 
and  extravagant  scene  at  the  main  street  near  by ! 

You  come  back  again  to  the  bright  street  and  go 
up  and  down  rambling  and  looking  into  the  show 
windows  on  the  both  sides.  The  largest  stores  are 
watchmakers  and  foreign  goods'  dealers,  among  the 
others — the  oldest  shop  of  Kobayashi,  Hattori  of  the 
watch  tower,  Tenshodo  in  tempting  adornment, 
Taishodo,  Takenouchi,  Iseso,  and  Kyoya  are  the  most 
famous  shops  on  watches  and  precious  metal  goods, 
and  Tenkado,  Haikarado,  Taya,  Tamaya,  Takiguchi, 
Minotsune,  Shinseido,  and  Sekiguchi  are  the  notable 
dealers  in  foreign  goods,  their  show  windows  being 
decorated  with  their  best  and  fine  articles  hung 
against  the  wall,  such  as  hats,  neckties,  shawls,  and 
umbrellas,  stimulating  the  desire  of  purchase.  Near 
the  Shimbashi  Bridge  there  is  a  large  bazaar  called 
the  Hakuhinkan,  in  whose  three-story  building  more 
than  seventy  large  and  small  shops  open  and  sell 
foreign  goods,  toys,  pictures  and  photos,  fancy  goods, 

30 


THE   GINZA  STREET 

toilet  articles,  stationeries,  and  porcelain  wares.  When 
it  comes  near  the  end  of  the  year,  here  the  great  sale 
of  the  bazaar  is  carried  on,  and  various  prizes  are 
distributed  among  purchasers  by  drawing  lots.  The 
great  sale  is  called  The  Nenmatsu  Fukubiki  Ouridashi, 
which  means  "  The  Great  Sale  by  the  Distribution 
of  Lot  Prizes  at  the  End  of  the  Year."  Customers  to 
the  Ginza  shops  are  proud  of  what  they  have  purchased 
here,  and  all  the  goods  and  articles  of  Ginza  being 
believed  to  be  of  the  first  rank  they  don't  care  of 
higher  prices.  Articles  of  the  same  kind  and  quality 
can  be  bought  at  lower  prices  in  the  streets  of  Yatsuya 
or  Kanda  district,  and  yet  ladies  living  in  the  Bluff 
quarters  come  down  to  Ginza  in  evening  by  taking 
trams,  or  by  rikisha  to  satisfy  their  vanity  for  their 
neighbours  and  friends.  If  their  clothes  or  articles  are 
wrapped  in  the  paper  with  signs  of  any  Ginza  shops, 
it  is  thought  by  them  to  be  endorsement  for  the 
goods  of  the  first  and  best  class. 

Next  you  shall  go  round  to  examine  the  stalls  along 
the  margin  of  the  pavement.  At  a  lane  of  a  by-street 
of  Ginza  there  is  "  a  God  of  Little  Children  "  called 
the  Jizd,  and  on  the  yth,  i8th  and  2Qth  of  every 
month  the  festival  is  held  for  the  god.  The  day  of 
the  festival  is  popularly  called  the  ennichi.  In  the 
city  of  Tokyo  such  festivals  are  celebrated  every  day 
throughout  a  month,  and  there  is  not  a  day  in  the 
year  which  is  not  crowned  with  the  ennichi  of  a 
certain  shrine  or  temple,  so  that  abundant  kinds  of 
little  gods,  as  well  as  Buddhistic  temples,  are 
worshipped  by  religious  citizens.  In  the  evening  of 
such  ennichi,  stalls  of  smaller  scale  make  rows  along  the 
small  streets  near  the  shrine  or  temple  on  festival,  and 
these  stalls  are  entirely  different  in  their  kind  of  shops 
compared  to  the  stalls  opened  every  night  in  the  main 
street.  This  evening,  it  is  the  ennichi  of  Jizo  god, 
and,  taking  advantage  of  it,  you  shall  try  to  examine 
both  kinds  of  the  night  stalls. 

Theyomtse  or  night  stalls  of  Ginza  are  a  singular 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

contrast  to  the  large  stores  in  the  street.  People  can 
have  food,  dresses,  books,  and  everything  from  these 
stores  in  the  brick  buildings,  and  yet  small  stalls 
lighted  with  the  oil  or  acetylene  gas  lamps  attract 
their  customers  every  night.  The  furu-dogu-ya  or 
dealers  in  second-hand  furniture  are  rather  larger 
stalls  among  the  others  and  their  merchandises  con- 
sist of  tansu  (chest  of  drawers),  chadana  (shelf  for  tea- 
service),  hombako  (bookcase),  toko  okimono  (ornament 
kept  in  the  al cove),  jikumono  (roll  of  hanging  picture), 
karakane  zaiku  (bronze  furniture),  etc.  In  smaller 
stalls,  shirts,  hats  and  caps,  soaps,  perfumes,  old 
clothes,  stockings,  shoes  and  boots,  clogs,  sticks, 
toilet  articles  and  fancy  goods  for  girls,  all  of  inferior 
quality  and  cheaper  price  are  sold.  There  are  also 
the  shops  of  fruits,  cakes,  and  parched  peas.  Stalls 
of  pictures,  picture  cards,  second  -  hand  books  and 
magazines,  are  visited  by  students.  Two  or  three 
shops  of  hodzuki  (ground  or  winter  cherries)  draw 
the  groups  of  little  girls.  At  one  corner  of  the  street 
a  hawker  of  new  inventions  is  giving  explanation  in 
loud  voice,  and  enveloped  by  the  crowd  of  people. 

It  is  from  eight  to  eleven  that  the  night  stalls 
are  most  crowded  with  visitors.  In  some  second- 
hand furniture  shops  you  can  find  some  articles 
which  cost  yen  50  to  100  per  piece,  and  the 
dealers  have  as  their  customers  the  government 
officers  of  high  rank,  or  rich  European  gentlemen. 
Though  they  are  called  the  dealers  of  second-hand 
articles,  they  are  not  limited  to  treat  old  things  only, 
and  you  cannot  slight  merchandises  in  these  stalls. 
The  Ginza  Street  is  not  lacked  of  publishers  and 
bookstores,  Keiseisha,  Kyobun  Kan,  Kin-odd,  Shuns- 
hodo  and  Shimbashido,  being  large  and  famous  shops, 
and  yet  the  night  stalls  of  old  pictures  and  second- 
hand books  sell  very  well,  Besides  these  large  and 
flourishing  stalls,  you  can  see  very  small  and  miser- 
able shops,  where  wives  of  poor  day-workers  expose 
little  things  of  one  or  two  sen.  The  most  interesting 

32 


THE  GINZA  STREET 

contrasts  are  a  stall  of  Buddhist  scripture  books, 
situated  against  the  door  of  the  Salvation  Army 
Headquarters,  and  another  stall  of  rings  and  chains 
made  of  alloy  just  in  front  of  a  large  watch  stone. 
These  two  stalls  are  full  of  guests — a  scripture  book 
being  bought  by  an  old  lady,  and  a  "  gold  "  ring  taken 
by  a  young  fellow  in  exchange  with  his  five  sen 
nickel  coin. 

Now  you  turn  a  corner  and  enter  the  stall  street  of 
the  ennichi  of  the  god  Jizo.  All  stalls  are  small,  and 
most  of  visitors  are  children.  Naturally  the  articles 
sold  in  these  stalls  are  those  attract  their  attention — 
toys  and  cakes  being  most  popular  for  them.  Among 
the  children  you  find  men  and  women  wandering 
about  the  street,  and  if  you  come  to  the  shrine  you 
will  find  it  strange  that  those  who  worship  the  god 
Jizo  are  only  one-tenth  out  of  the  visitors.  What  is 
their  object  to  come  to  the  ennichi^  if  they  do  not 
think  to  make  prayer  to  the  god  ?  The  most  striking 
views  in  the  ennichi\s  the  shows  of  plants  by  gardeners 
and,  being  collected  at  one  part  of  the  street,  rows  of 
green  leaves  and  flowers  of  the  season  exhibit  a  very 
excellent  sight.  It  is  a  curious  custom  that  the 
gardeners  at  the  ennichi  always  blow  an  overcharge 
of  about  nine  times  upon  the  actual  price,  and  citizens 
being  well  accustomed  of  the  habit,  they  cut  off  nine- 
tenths  of  the  proposed  value  when  they  have  to  buy 
a  plant  at  the  ennichi.  Towards  the  midnight  visitors 
are  gradually  dispersed  for  their  home,  and  the  stalls 
both  in  the  front  street  and  for  the  ennichi  put  up 
their  shops  and  go  to  their  home  or  lodging.  After 
the  stalls  were  cleared  away,  the  pavement,  as  well 
as  the  by-street  on  the  ennichi,  is  found  scattered 
with  peel  of  oranges,  end  of  cigarettes,  and  torn 
pieces  of  wrapping  paper ;  and  under  the  dreary  light 
of  the  street  lamps  the  stepping  sound  of  a  police- 
man can  only  be  heard. 

The  electric  tram  through  the  city  of  Tokyo  runs 
till  about  I  A.M.,  and  we  can  recognise  the  last  car  of 

33  c 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

the  night  by  its  red  light  fixed  at  its  head  and  rear. 
Being  now  past  twelve,  and  feeling  somewhat  hungry, 
you  wish  to  take  something.  Coming  again  at  the 
cross-roads  of  Owaricho,  you  enter  the  Cafe  Lion  at 
the  south-east  corner.  Here  you  can  prefer  any  kind 
of  wine,  European  and  Japanese — beer,  Masamune 
(genuine  Japanese  sake),  whisky,  liqueur,  vodka,  and 
so  on — and  may  pine  after  the  evening  of  Paris  or 
London,  or  dream  of  the  pleasure  at  Berlin  or  St 
Petersburg.  Most  of  the  guests  assembled  in  this 
house  are  young  gentlemen  of  so-called  new  taste  ; 
a  party  of  three  or  four  comes  by  automobile,  accom- 
panied by  young  beautiful  geisha  (singing-girls)  of 
Shimbashi,  and  occupies  a  room  upstairs.  The 
laughter  of  the  girls  echoes  in  the  room,  and  their 
crimson  sleeves  wave  around  the  table.  About  the 
middle  of  the  staircase  you  meet  a  young  lady  stepping 
down,  and  fragrance  from  her  body  strikes  at  your 
nose  at  the  moment  of  passing  closely.  Is  she  a 
madam,  daughter,  or  street-walker  ?  The  saloon 
upstairs  is  full  of  the  confused  odour  of  wine  and 
tobacco  smoke.  Here  you  see  the  young  officers  of 
the  Embassies  and  Legations ;  famous  lawyers  and 
politicians ;  assistant  professors  of  botany  and 
physiology ;  authors  and  critics — groups  of  these 
various  ranks  take  their  seats  round  the  tables  and 
are  smoking,  drinking,  eating,  and  remonstrating. 
The  place  most  crowded  in  the  Cafe  is  the  bar  down- 
stairs, and  here  all  classes  of  people  from  the  higher 
to  the  lowest  are  taking  refreshment — men  of  music, 
stage,  or  brush ;  merchants,  students,  workmen,  and 
labourers  ;  all  come  in  and  out  by  turns. 

In  the  Cafe  there  are  young  waitresses,  about  twenty 
in  number,  their  breast  being  covered  with  snow-white 
aprons.  They  are  all  beautiful,  their  white  face 
smiling  on  love,  and  their  red  hair  ribbon  flying  in 
show.  There  are  not  a  few  young  customers  who 
come  to  the  Cafe"  every  night  and  sue  the  waitresses, 
and  the  manager  of  the  shop  was  smiling  when  he 

34 


THE   GINZA  STREET 

told  once  to  a  customer,  "  Our  waitresses  must  be 
young  and  beautiful,  but  these  beauties  do  not  stay 
long  and  go  home  shortly  on  pretence  of  some  family 
reasons."  It  is  the  fact  that  the  girls  here  are  found 
always  to  be  renewing.  Being  sued  by  the  hand  of 
young  blood,  the  weak  females  could  not  refuse  it. 
Some  of  them  may  have  been  taken  wives,  but  most 
are  perhaps  fallen  in  the  abysses  of  ruin,  after  a 
momentary  dream  of  honey-love. 

Next  evening  you  again  visit  Ginza  and  happen  to 
appear  on  the  front  gate  of  the  Kqjunsha,  one  of  the 
largest  social  clubs  in  Tokyo.  The  club  is  situated 
at  Minami-nabecho,  a  second  street  to  the  west  of  the 
main  street.  It  is  the  European  building  of  three 
stories,  and  every  evening  you  will  find  carriages  and 
motor-cars  at  the  entrance,  waiting  for  their  masters. 
At  the  vicinity  of  Ginza  there  are  a  great  number  of 
social  clubs,  most  famous  among  them  being  the 
Kazoku-kaikan  (the  Club  of  Peers),  the  Gakushikai 
(the  Club  of  the  Imperial  University  Graduates),  the 
Tokyo  Club  (the  Club  for  Peers  and  Foreigners),  the 
Nihon  Club  (most  of  its  members  are  the  Government 
officials),  the  Kuyshu  Club  (members  limited  to  the 
natives  of  Kyushu  Island),  the  Tetsudo  Kydkai  (Rail- 
way Association),  the  Bo-eki-Kyokai  (Trade  Associa- 
tion), the  Mitsui  Club  (of  the  Mitsui  Co.),  the  Yusen 
Club  (of  the  Nihon  Yusen  Kaisha — i.e.,  the  Japan  Mail 
Steamer  Co.),  and  the  Jugo  Ginko  Club  (of  the  No. 
15  Bank).  While  members  of  these  clubs  are 
limited  to  a  certain  rank  or  circle,  the  Kojunsha  is 
open  for  refined  gentlemen  of  all  classes.  The 
central  strength  of  the  club  is  consisted  of  the 
graduates  of  the  Keio  College,  and,  among  its 
members,  there  are  peers,  scholars,  statesmen,  poli- 
ticians, officials,  merchants,  lawyers,  and  journalists, 
the  total  number  of  them  amounting  to  seven  hundred 
at  present.  Any  gentleman  can  be  enrolled  as  a 
member  of  the  club  by  introduction  of  two  members, 

35 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

and  after  the  resolution  of  the  standing  committee. 
Every  member  has  the  duty  to  contribute  yen  30  at 
first,  and  to  pay  yen  3  every  month.  The  position 
of  the  club  being  at  the  centre  of  Ginza  and  near 
Shimbashi,  it  is  a  pride  and  honour  for  gentlemen  to 
be  a  member  of  the  club. 

At  downstairs  there  are  the  billiard-room,  bar;  and 
Japanese  dance-room.  Billiards  is  played  till  late  in 
night ;  every  day  and  in  the  bar  you  can  choose  any 
kind  of  wine,  red,  blue,  white,  or  yellow.  A  small 
fixed  stage  is  seen  in  the  dance-room,  and  on  ordinary 
days  there  we  find  a  number  of  shogiban  (Japanese 
chess-boards)  and  goban  (Japanese  checker-boards) 
arranged  in  regular  order.  The  walls  are  covered 
with  the  pictures  of  beauties  painted  by  Mitsuya  and 
Watanabe,  the  two  famous  artists,  and  four  or  five 
groups  of  the  members  are  pleasantly  playing  on  shogi 
(chess)  and  go  (checker)  under  the  bright  electric 
lights.  On  the  second  story  there  is  a  large  dining- 
room,  and  European  dishes  can  be  served  there.  The 
third  story  is  occupied  by  the  library  and  the  rooms 
for  conversation  and  smoking.  You  find  a  count  and 
a  merchant  prince  talking  by  a  table  of  the  conversa- 
tion room,  and  at  another  table  a  doctor  gossiping 
with  an  editor.  Purple  smokes  are  drifting  about 
over  the  heads  of  the  crowds  in  the  smoking-room. 
The  dark  green  colour  of  the  library's  walls  sets  the 
readers'  mind  at  rest,  and  desks  near  the  windows 
are  furnished  with  letter-paper  and  envelopes.  On  a 
long  table,  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  all  kinds  of  daily 
newspapers  and  periodicals  are  arranged  in  good 
order.  Though  the  club  is  situated  in  the  bustling 
street  of  Ginza,  yet  the  noises  outside  do  not  reach  to 
the  third  story,  only  distant  sound  of  the  drum  beaten 
by  the  street  pedlar  occasionally  disturbing  the  silence 
of  the  room.  Besides  these  rooms  on  the  third  story, 
there  is  a  barber's  room  at  the  corner,  and  old  and  young 
gentlemen  are  found  there  shaving  or  cutting  the  hair. 

Getting  out  of  the  club,  you  advance  towards  the 
36 


THE   GINZA   STREET 

main  street  again.  It  is  now  past  ten.  You  see  a 
crowd  of  people  in  front  of  a  large  shop,  and  approach- 
ing them,  you  find  they  are  listening  the  song  thrown 
out  of  a  phonograph  placed  on  a  table  in  the  shop. 
Leaving  here,  you  go  on  some  fifty  or  sixty  yards  to 
south,  and,  turning  a  corner  to  east,  you  come  near 
the  river  bank.  The  part  of  Ginza  along  the  small 
river  is  called  Sanjukken-bori,  and,  though  the 
quarter  is  near  the  centre  of  Ginza,  streets  about  here 
are  rather  dark,  all  houses  and  shops  being  not  so 
much  illumined  as  in  the  main  street.  You  find  a 
number  of  houses  very  fashionably  built,  and  furnished 
with  gates  or  doors  of  elegant  form.  On  the  roof  or 
gate  lamp  you  can  read  the  name  of  each  of  these 
houses,  and  at  times  a  rikisha  with  rubber  tyre  wheels 
runs  out  of  the  gate,  leaving  in  the  air  behind  it  the 
perfume  of  white  rose.  What  kind  of  business  is 
taken  in  these  graceful  houses?  They  are  called 
machiai  or  waiting  -  houses.  In  Ginza  there  are 
many  large  and  small  restaurants,  and  the  largest 
and  most  famous  among  them  are  the  Kagetsu, 
Matsumatoro,  Kinrokutei,  and  Fukkitei,  amounting 
to  twenty-four  or  five  in  all.  Around  the  quarters  of 
the  restaurants  and  waiting-houses  there  are  the 
alleys  of  geisha,  and  six  hundred  and  eighty-four 
large  and  small  so-called  Shimbashi  geisha  (singing- 
and  dancing-girls  of  the  Shimbashi  circle)  live  in 
their  houses  built  in  rows  on  the  both  sides  of  the 
narrow  roads  called  Itajim-michi,  Nakadori,  Komparu, 
and  Shigaraki-jimmichi. 

It  is  not  unreasonable  that  there  we  find  a  great 
number  of  machiai,  not  only  at  Sanjukken-bori,  but 
also  in  all  by-streets  not  far  distant  to  those  dens  of 
geisha,  and  these  waiting-houses  within  the  boundary 
of  the  Ginza  quarter  are  counted  to  sixty-six  at  present. 
Profession  of  geisha  is  to  wait  upon  guests  in  the 
restaurants,  and  to  assist  their  pleasure  by  singing  and 
dancing;  but  the  so-called  machiai  are  also  their 
favourite  and  important  haunts.  Besides  the  geisha^ 

37 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

you  often  find  young  females,  with  the  appearance 
of  a  mixture  of  professional  and  unprofessional,  come 
in  and  out  of  machiai  of  lower  class.  What  kind  of 
girls  are  they  ?  Details  of  geisha  and  the  interior  of 
machiai  will  be  explained  under  the  chapter  of 
"  Geisha  and  Restaurants." 

You  do  not  enter  to  try  any  of  machiai  this  night ; 
and  your  stomach  being  still  full  of  food  taken  in  the 
Kojunsha  Club,  you  stroll  about  to  the  western  part 
of  Ginza.  Crossing  the  main  street  again  to  the 
west,  and  on  one  side  of  a  street  near  the  end  of  the 
street  Takekawacho,  there  stand  a  stall  of  "  Ippin 
Seiyo  Ryori"  (one  dish  European  cooking),  and 
another  stall  of  sushi  (pickled  rice  covered  or  mixed 
with  fish,  eggs,  and  vegetables)  next  to  it.  In  square 
boxes  covered  with  glass  on  the  sushi  stall  several 
kinds  of  sushi  are  arranged  in  rows — each  small  oval 
mass  of  pickled  rice  being  covered  with  red  flesh  of 
tunny  fish,  yellow  square  piece  of  egg,  pink  and 
white  flesh  of  lobster  or  shrimp,  pearl  white  slice  of 
cuttle  fish,  silvery  flesh  of  saba  fish  (scomber  pneu- 
matophorus),  or  rolled  up  with  parched  laver.  Three 
or  four  young  fellows  of  clerk  form  are  standing  near 
each  of  the  one  dish  cooking  and  the  sushi  stalls, 
and  those  in  the  former  eat  cutlet  or  beef-steak  and 
drink  wine  ;  but  the  lovers  of  sushi  drink  tea  which 
emits  an  agreeable  perfume.  At  the  dark  corner  of 
the  next  street  you  see  a  group  of  all-night  rikisha- 
men,  and  when  you  pass  by  them,  one  who  has  been 
yawning  comes  near  you  and  asks  you  to  take 
rikisha  by  their  habitual  phrase,  "  Danna,  Oyasuku 
mairimasho  "  (Sir,  I  shall  follow  you  by  a  cheap  fare). 
It  is  now  twelve,  and  these  dark  by-streets  are 
visited  by  policemen  and  rikisha-mer\  only.  The  two 
or  three  men  perhaps  driven  out  of  a  restaurant  or 
machiai  appear  and  go  towards  the  Shimbashi  Bridge, 
walking  in  zigzags,  and  a  black  lacquered  rikisha 
passes  by  you  at  its  full  speed.  On  the  rikisha 
you  observe,  by  a  dim  light  of  a  roof  lantern,  the 

38 


THE   GINZA   STREET 

black  hair  and  white  face  and  shoulders  covered  with 
a  gaudy  silk  crape  dress.  Howling  of  a  "  oinarisan  " 
pedlar  (oinarisan  is  a  kind  of  sushi,  and  its  pickled 
rice  is  wrapped  with  a  piece  of  fried  bean  -  curd 
flavoured  with  sugar  and  soy)  and  flute  of  a  Chinese 
buckwheat  seller  are  faintly  heard  in  a  distant  street. 
No  trace  of  beggars  on  the  Dobashi  and  Shimbashi 
Bridge  can  be  seen  now. 

A  little  past  i  A.M.,  suddenly  a  powerful  strange 
sound  begins  to  come  out  of  a  big  building ;  for 
a  minute  it  ceases,  and  then  again  confused,  noisy, 
strong  sounds  are  heard  continually.  Two  or  three 
dogs  awake  from  their  sleep  and  bark  for  the 
dark.  Similar  miscellaneous  sounds  can  be  heard 
at  Yumicho,  Takiyamacho,  Hiyoshicho,  Minami- 
Nabecho,  Yamashitacho,  and  near  the  Kyobashi 
Bridge,  the  north  end  of  Ginza,  at  the  dead  of 
night.  These  noises  are  from  the  rotary  presses 
of  the  newspaper  offices.  In  the  Ginza  quarter 
there  are  eight  newspaper  offices  —  the  Yomiuri, 
Yamato,  Mancho,  Nippon,  Jiji,  Chu-6,  Kokumin, 
and  Asahi,  and  it  is  a  pride  of  Ginza  that  the 
quarter  holds  above  one  half  of  more  than  ten 
larger  daily  papers  in  Tokyo.  After  two  or  three 
hours  the  vicinity  of  the  newspaper  offices  becomes 
noisy  by  carts  to  transport  the  printed  papers,  and 
with  ringing  of  bells  carried  by  distributers.  It  is 
now  near  the  dawn,  and  the  first  electric  tram  of  the 
morning  full  of  people — most  of  them  being  the  day- 
labourers — runs  on  the  main  street,  which  is  still 
peaceful  and  lonely.  The  fare  of  morning  trams 
before  7  A.M.  is  at  one  half  of  the  ordinary  value. 

Next  evening  you  try  to  taste  the  fried  fish  of  the 
Tenkin,  the  most  famous  fried  fish  shop  in  Tokyo. 
To  take  supper  in  Ginza  there  are  many  restaurants, 
European  and  Japanese,  and  every  kind  of  eating- 
houses  ;  but  so-called  tempuraya  (fried  fish  shop)  is  a 
peculiar  class  of  restaurants,  where  dishes  are  limited 

39 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

to  fried  fish  only.  In  every  part  of  Tokyo  you  can  find 
the  fried  fish  restaurants,  but  there  is  no  shop  which  can 
supply  more  tasteful  and  delicate  tempura  (fried  fish) 
than  the  Tenkin.  The  fried  fish  shop  is  best  for  taking 
supper  in  company  of  one's  family,  owing  to  its  simple- 
ness  and  cheapness.  The  position  of  the  Tenkin  is 
near  the  cross-roads  of  Owaricho,  and  its  building  and 
system  inside  are  entirely  in  the  pure  Japanese  style. 
If  you  come  near  the  front  of  the  shop,  you  will  first 
see  the  entrance  shut  up  with  paper  sliding-doors,  on 
which  you  can  read  the  two  large  Chinese  characters 
Ten  and  Kin.  Then  you  open  the  door,  and  at  the 
moment  you  step  in  your  nose  will  be  attacked  with 
the  smell  of  boiling  oil — to  fry  fish  in  this  restaurant 
only  sesame  oil  is  used,  and  no  others.  The  surface  of 
the  staircase  leading  to  the  upstairs  saloon  is  made 
bright  and  smooth  with  gradually  soaked  oil.  On  up- 
stairs, there  are  no  special  or  separate  rooms,  but  one 
large  saloon  is  only  the  room  for  visitors,  no  tables  and 
no  chairs,  but  covered  with  the  Japanese  mattings. 
You  sit  down  on  a  futon  (cushion)  brought  by  a  little 
maid-servant,  and  give  order  to  her  for  your  dishes. 

Leaning  against  the  wall  and  looking  round,  there  is 
a  couple  to  your  right,  and  they  seem  to  be  impatient 
with  long  waiting  for  their  dishes,  the  husband  killing 
time  by  smoking.  Nothing  is  more  wasting  time  than 
to  wait  at  the  tempuraya  and  unaginya  (eel  restaurant), 
and  it  is  inevitable  to  wait  one  hour  at  least  to  have 
the  first  dish  of  fried  fish  furnished  before  you  after 
you  get  in  the  tempuraya^  specially  in  the  Tenkin  shop. 
The  object  of  visitors  to  the  Tenkin  is  to  eat  but  not  to 
drink,  and  when  they  are  once  served  with  their  portions 
they  don't  take  long  time  to  finish  supper.  Conse- 
quently three  hundred  or  four  hundred  companies  of 
guests  go  in  and  out  of  the  restaurant  by  turns  in  three 
or  four  hours  every  evening.  One  half  of  these  guests 
are  citizens  of  Tokyo,  and  the  other  half  provincials, 
who  come  sight-seeing  to  the  capital,  and  are  attracted 
by  the  fame  of  the  restaurant.  It  is  not  rare  that  the 

40 


THE  GINZA  STREET 

Shimbashi geisha  of  the  first  class  make  their  appear- 
ance in  the  saloon,  together  with  their  acquainted 
customers,  and  take  supper  among  confusion  of  the 
crowded  visitors.  To  your  left,  one  boy  and  two  girls, 
accompanied  by  their  parents,  finished  supper  already. 
One  bottle  of  sake  and  four  portions  of  fried  fish  and 
rice  have  been  taken  by  the  company  of  five,  and  when 
the  father  paid  a  little  less  than  yen  3  for  the  bill 
brought  by  a  maid-servant,  the  mother  was  much 
satisfied  for  the  small  payment ;  the  phrase,  "  Yasui 
wa  ne  \ "  ("  very  cheap  !  "),  escaping  from  her  mouth 
unintentionally. 

Having  finished  supper  at  the  fried  fish  restaurant, 
you  step  down  the  smooth  staircase  and  get  out  of  the 
house.  Now  it  is  about  nine,  and  the  street  is  crowded 
by  people  as  usual.  This  night  you  try  to  visit  and 
talk  with  one  of  the  hairdressers  for  the  females.  The 
Shimbashi  geisha  are  of  the  first  rank  among  all  Tokyo 
geisha  with  regard  to  their  beauty  and  accomplish- 
ments, and  it  is  natural  that  the  notable  hairdressing 
women  (not  men !)  live  in  the  vicinity  of  Ginza,  and 
answer  the  demand  of  those  geisha,  whose  life  it  is  to 
have  their  hair  dressed  neatly  every  night  and  day. 

The  old  Owaka  of  Yamashitacho  is  the  most  famous 
hairdresser,  and,  through  apprenticeship  under  her, 
those  excellent  hairdressing  women,  Ochiyo  of  Sqju- 
rocho,  Obun  of  Minami-kinrokucho,  and  others,  have 
been  produced ;  besides  them,  Otake  of  Hiyoshicho 
and  Otora  and  Oto  of  Tojurocho  are  of  the  first  rate 
too.  The  forms  of  the  hair  bound,  most  popular  among 
geisha,  are  Shimsada,  haikara,  and  ichogczshi,  and 
as  there  are  different  style  of  binding  for  each  of  these 
forms,  according  to  the  device  of  each  hairdresser,  the 
Shimbashi  geisha  can  be  classified  to  several  parties 
by  their  style  of  hairbinding,  such  as  Ochiyo  party, 
Otora  party,  and  Obun  party.  Customers  of  these 
hairdressing  women  are  not  limited  to  geisha  only, 
but  the  hair  of  ladies  and  daughters  of  middle  and 
higher  ranks  is  also  decorated  by  their  hand.  It  is 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

common  that  the  fashion  of  hair  forms  changes  every 
year,  and  the  hairdressers  must  be  very  attentive  to  it. 
Near  the  Kyobashi  Bridge,  the  north  end  of  Ginza, 
there  is  a  large  fancy  store  called  the  Onishi  Hakubotan, 
and  in  the  upstairs  room  there  is  held  a  competitive 
exhibition  of  the  new  hair  forms  in  spring  and  autumn 
every  year.  There  is  a  telephone  in  the  house  of  each 
hairdresser,  and  four  or  five  young  female  apprentices 
at  least  are  working  very  busy  under  her  from  five  on 
morning  till  twelve  in  night  every  day.  At  a  glance,  a 
girl  can  immediately  perceive  the  style  of  the  hair  form 
whether  it  was  dressed  by  Ochiyo  or  Obun,  so  that 
girls,  specially  geisha,  are  always  very  anxious  of  the 
hair.  Among  the  haikara  forms  invented  by  Obun, 
S-moki,  Roma,  Kasugamaki,  Nadeshiko^  Taishomaki, 
and  Kasumimaki  are  most  popular ;  the  Nadeshiko 
being  suited  for  young  girls  often  to  fifteen  years  old, 
and  the  Kasumimaki  for  young  ladies.  It  is  a  habit 
of  Japanese  ladies  of  higher  class — as  well  as  geisha — 
that  their  hairs  are  generally  dressed  by  the  hand  of 
the  hairdressing  women,  though  women  of  lower  class 
bind  their  own  hairs  simply  by  their  own  hand  ;  and 
there  is  a  great  number  of  these  professional  women 
on  hairdressing  throughout  the  city  of  Tokyo. 


42 


CHAPTER   V 
HOTELS,  INNS,  AND  FREE  LODGINGS 

You  will  spend  one  night  in  the  Honjo  and 
Fukagawa  Wards,  the  east  part  of  the  city,  and  these 
quarters,  as  well  as  the  Asakusa  Ward,  are  the  centres 
of  the  inns  or  lodging-houses  for  the  lowest  class  of 
people.  If  you  come  to  a  street  called  Tomikawacho 
in  the  Fukagawa  district,  you  will  find  rows  of  square 
paper  lanterns  hanging  at  the  entrance  of  each  house 
on  the  both  sides  of  the  street,  and  all  these  houses 
are  the  inns  for  the  lowest  class,  under  the  general 
name  of  kichinyado,  which  means  the  lodging- 
house  of  the  cheapest  rent.  Though  they  are  called 
the  inns  or  lodging-houses,  they  are  the  dens  of  the 
poor  in  fact.  The  quarters  licensed  by  the  police  to 
carry  on  the  business  of  kichinyado  are  Shirokane 
Sarumachi  of  the  Shiba,  Hiro-machi  of  Azabu, 
Nagazumicho  of  Yotsuya,  Asakusamachi  of  Asakusa, 
Komme  Narihiracho  and  Hanacho  of  Honjo,  and 
Tomikawacho  of  Fukagawa  Ward,  the  last  of  which 
— Tomikawacho  —  is  said  to  be  most  popular  and 
flourishing,  owing  to  its  position  very  convenient  for 
labourers  to  come  in  and  out.  At  present  there  are 
one  hundred  and  eighty-six  houses  of  kichinyado 
within  the  limit  of  Tomikawacho,  and  the  quarters 
to  be  ranked  next  to  it  are  Asakusamachi  and 
Hanacho.  Out  of  these  lowest  lodging-houses, 
generally  called  the  kichinyadoy  we  can  also  classify 
them  into  the  higher,  middle,  and  lowest ;  the 

43 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

lowest  is  placed  in  a  tenement  house  like  a  barn  in 
a  dirty  alley,  while  the  higher  has  the  appearance 
much  better  than  a  small  hotel  often  found  in  a 
suburb  of  the  city.  The  house  called  Sanoya  in 
Tomikawacho  is  the  three-story  building,  its  outside 
being  built  in  the  European  style,  and  it  is  very 
famous  by  the  nickname  of  "  Kichinyado  Hotel " 
among  kichinyado  customers.  Besides  the  Sanoya, 
those  of  the  higher  class  are  the  Kazusaya,  Shimo- 
saya,  Yorozuya,  and  Furukawaya,  all  of  them  being 
of  the  two-story  building.  Those  of  the  middle  and 
lowest  class  are  similar  to  one  another  in  their 
appearance  and  system. 

At  the  entrance  there  is  a  yard  of  six  to  ten  feet 
square,  and  a  counting-room  is  established  along  it. 
In  the  counting-room  the  host  or  a  clerk  is  sitting  to 
receive  lodgers.  The  very  lowest  ones,  however, 
being  in  the  tenement  houses,  it  is  rare  that  we 
can  find  the  counting-room  in  them,  and  all  rooms 
for  lodgers  are  unclean,  just  like  hog-pen.  In  each 
house  a  large  room  called  "Ohiroma"  is  prepared, 
and  common  lodgers  are  to  sleep  in  the  room ;  but 
for  special  guests,  who  wish  to  sleep  separately  from 
others,  smaller  rooms  called  "Betsuma"  (separate 
rooms)  can  be  furnished.  Most  of  the  lodgers  in 
these  kichinyado  are  day-labourers  and  night-stall 
keepers,  who  live  here  as  their  dens  through  years. 
One-night  lodgers  in  such  lowest  and  rather  dirty 
houses  are  travellers  of  poor  purse,  or  profligates 
invited  by  street-walkers.  To  classify  the  labourers 
who  are  staying  in  these  lowest  lodging-houses, 
according  to  the  kinds  of  their  work  or  business, 
one  half  of  them  are  stall-keepers  who  sell  shinko- 
zaiku  (flowers  made  in  kneaded  flour),  ame  (wheat 
gluten),  nebuyaki-udon  (hot  maccaroni  boiled  in 
a  small  pan),  chameshi  (rice  boiled  in  weak  tea), 
yudedashi-udon  (boiled  maccaroni)  shiruko  (a  dish 
made  of  rice  cake  and  sugared  beans),  inarisushi 
(another  name  of  oinarisan,  which  is  a  mass  of  pickled 

44 


A   TOBACCO    PIPE   MENDER. 


INNS  AND  FREE  LODGINGS 

rice  wrapped  up  with  a  piece  of  fried  bean-curd), 
broken  furniture,  etc.,  and  the  other  half  collectors  of 
old  clogs,  menders  of  clogs,  knife-grinders,  fortune- 
tellers in  the  street,  hawkers  of  popular  songs, 
mendicant  friars,  strolling  musicians,  tobacco  pipe 
menders,  navvies,  ri&iska-men,  coolies,  etc. 

If  you  stay  a  night  in  the  large  room,  in  company 
together  with  these  labourers,  you  have  to  pay  only 
eight  sen  for  the  rent,  but  eighteen  to  twenty  sen 
should  be  paid  for  a  special  separate  room.  Of  course 
no  food  is  furnished  for  lodgers  either  in  the  general  or 
special  room.  Labourers  in  the  separate  rooms  are 
generally  living  with  their  wives  and  children,  and  it  is 
rare  that  bachelors  or  one-night  travellers  occupy  one 
room  by  paying  the  special  rent.  When  you  step  in 
the  general  room  you  find  there,  through  the  dim  light 
of  a  small  lamp,  a  heap  of  dirty  futon  (beddings)  at 
one  corner,  and  on  the  broken  wall  old  trousers,  caps, 
and  coats  are  disorderly  hung  down.  Some  of 
coolies  who  are  tired  out  by  their  hard  work  in  day- 
time are  already  in  sleep,  and  other  labourers  gossip- 
ing around  a  large  but  half-  broken  fire  -  box  with 
scanty  charcoal  fire  in  it,  some  smoking  and  some 
eating  a  piece  of  rice-cake.  The  host  and  clerks  are 
very  cool  to  treat  the  guests ;  but  if  there  comes  a 
man  accompanied  by  a  street-walker  they  are  very 
hospitable,  and  at  once  lead  them  into  a  separate 
room,  expecting  to  gain  plenty  of  tips  from  the  fool. 

The  day-labourers  come  back  to  their  nest  towards 
evening,  and  generally  fall  in  sleep  soon,  as  they  are 
tired  out  by  the  hard  work  of  the  whole  day ;  the 
night  stall-keepers  are  very  late  to  come  back  every 
night,  and  go  to  bed  as  soon  as  they  get  in  their  room. 
Thus,  in  fine  weather,  the  kichinyado  in  night  are 
rather  quiet ;  but  if  it  rains,  they  cannot  go  out  for 
their  work  or  business,  and  a  scene  of  disturbance 
and  misery  is  extended  over  the  stage  of  the  poor 
inn.  The  amusement  most  favourite  for  the  lowest 
class  is  gambling,  and  almost  all  of  them  confined  by 

45 


THE   NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

rain  assemble  in  the  large  room.  The  result  of  con- 
testing is  noisy  quarrels  or  severe  fightings.  A 
maiden  is  weeping  at  the  dark  corner  of  a  small 
separate  room,  where  she  has  been  kidnapped  by 
some  roguish  riktska-man.  Quarrels  are  not  rare 
among  the  labourers  and  their  unfaithful  wives,  and 
the  bloody  disturbances  take  place  often.  The  sake 
drinking  is  followed  by  severe  struggles,  and  some  are 
severely  wounded.  It  is  a  strange  custom  of  the 
lowest  kichinyado  that  after  twelve  every  night  the 
host  retires  to  his  own  room,  locks  it  up,  and  goes  to 
sleep,  the  entrance  door  being  left  open.  Conse- 
quently, these  lowest  inns  are  free  for  thieves  or 
homeless  fellows  to  steal  in  and  pass  the  night  under 
the  roof. 

Those  who  live  in  the  separate  rooms  with  their 
own  family  pay  the  room  rent  every  day  under  a 
special  contract  with  the  host.  In  daytime  the 
husband  and  wife  go  to  their  own  work  respectively, 
and,  when  they  come  back,  after  the  dark,  they 
collect  each  of  their  money  earned  on  the  day ;  the 
husband  goes  out  to  buy  materials  for  supper  and 
the  wife  prepares  for  their  poor  cooking.  If  rain 
continues  four  or  five  days  they  have  no  means  to 
pay  the  room  rent  and  to  purchase  food.  Some  one 
is  compelled  to  borrow  money  from  his  inmate  by 
mortgaging  his  wife  for  three  or  four  nights,  and  if  he 
cannot  pay  back  the  money  in  the  due  time,  the 
woman  is  taken  to  be  the  wife  of  the  creditor — 
creditor  for  only  yen  2  or  3. 

The  most  miserable  case  is  the  wife  of  a  labourer 
abandoned  by  her  husband.  Owing  to  the  continued 
rain,  both  the  husband  and  wife  cannot  find  any  way 
to  work,  and  as  they  cannot  pay  the  rent  the  host  or 
his  clerk  urges  for  the  payment  without  a  slight  mercy. 
After  quarrels  between  the  husband  and  wife,  at  last 
the  man  goes  out  to  make  money,  but  does  not  come 
back  to  the  inn  forever.  If  the  abandoned  wife  is 
not  very  old  the  host  comes  to  her,  taking  advantage 


A  MENDICANT   FRIAR. 


INNS  AND  FREE  LODGINGS 

of  the  opportunity,  and  persuades  her  to  become  a 
courtesan  of  Asakusa  Park,  or  of  Yoshiwara  or 
Susaki.  By  this  the  host  can  not  only  recover 
the  room  rent,  but  also  grasps  a  certain  amount 
of  money  as  commission. 

Labourers  who  pass  the  night  in  the  kichinyado 
have  no  future  aspiration  for  their  life,  but  their  mere 
desires  are  to  drink,  eat,  and  amuse  themselves. 
Consequently,  every  night  till  midnight  the  streets  in 
vicinity  of  these  lowest  inns  are  full  of  small  shops 
and  stalls  of  cheap  food  and  drinks,  awaiting  the 
customers  from  those  kichinyado.  Stalls  of  hot  wine 
and  odeny  inarisushi^  shiruko,  mochi  (rice  -  cake), 
tsukeyaki  pan  (pieces  of  bread  toasted  and  flavoured 
with  soy),  yakitori  (broiled  chickens),  kabayaki 
(broiled  eels),  and  nabeyaki-udon  are  most  frequented 
by  them.  The  large  and  most  famous  shops  of  udon 
are  the  Marusan,  Asahi,  and  Kogetsu,  where  udon  is 
supplied  by  one  and  a  half  or  two  sen  per  bowl,  and 
the  customers  clothed  with  rags  come  in  crowds. 
Besides  them,  you  can  find  many  small  eating-houses 
and  shops  of  boiled  meat,  raw  fish  flesh,  salted  fish 
and  greens.  As  for  their  amusement  in  night,  there 
is  a  variety  hall  (yosse)  called  the  Naniwakan  in  the 
street  Tomikawacho,  and  by  paying  only  three  to  five 
sen  for  admission  poor  visitors  are  pleased  to  see  the 
cinematographs  ;  but  those  who  cannot  pay  even  the 
price  of  the  yosst  are  to  flock  together  in  a  room  of 
the  inn,  and,  under  the  gloomy  light  of  a  small 
smoking-lamp,  each  of  the  lodgers  plays  his  or  her 
own  accomplishment.  Saimon  and  Gidayu  singings 
narrate  some  historical  or  romantic  stories,  hokaibushi 
is  sung  by  accompaniment  of  a  gekkin  performance 
(a  moon-shaped  guitar),  and  active  songs  of  de- 
generated students,  and  light  melodies  of  the  dodvitsu, 
hauta,  otsuyey  tokiwadzu,  and  shinnai  songs  by  young 
wives  are  very  interesting  ;  all  these  funny  perform- 
ances can  cure  them  of  the  fatigue  of  their  day-works. 

47 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

The  kichinyado  is  the  lowest  inn  for  the  lowest 
class  of  people,  but  still  more  there  are  a  few  lodging- 
houses  established  for  those  poorest  persons  who 
cannot  go  even  to  the  kichinyado.  These  houses  are 
called  the  muryo  shukuhakujo^  which  means  "  the  free 
lodging-house." 


This  house  is  to  lodge  free  of  charge  those  who 
are  unable  to  get  their  lodging  place. 

This  house  will  assist  to  find  work  for  those  who 
are  out  of  employment. 

This  house  refuses  to  lodge  persons  as  follows  : — 

1.  Those  who  are  got  drunk. 

2.  Those  who  are  in  a  contagious  disease. 

Refer  to  the  office  for  particulars. 
Date.  The  Muryo  Shukuhakujo. 


The  board  of  a  public  notice  above  mentioned  is 
hung  up  on  the  fence  near  the  gate  of  one  of  the 
free  lodging  -  houses.  The  house  is  situated  at 
Wakamiyacho,  in  the  Honjo  Ward,  and  was  first 
established  in  1902.  The  president  of  the  house, 
who  is  carrying  on  such  the  charity  work,  is  Ejitsu 
Okusa,  a  high  Buddhist  priest  of  the  Higashi 
Honganji  Temple  in  Asakusa.  There  is  a  large  hall 
on  upstairs  of  the  two-story  building,  and  the  large 
windows  are  opened  on  its  two  sides  of  the  east  and 
west,  the  floor  of  the  room  being  covered  with  new 
green  mattings.  To  the  front  of  the  hall  a  Buddhist 
altar  is  furnished  on  a  high  floor,  and  a  brilliant  image 
of  Amitabha  is  consecrated  on  the  altar.  On  the 
wall  near  the  altar  there  are  exhibited  a  copy  of  the 
Imperial  Rescript  on  "Encouragement  for  Habits  of 
Thrift,"  and  its  explanations,  which  are  written  by 
Lord  Abbot  Koei  of  the  Higashi  Honganji  Temple. 

48 


INNS  AND  FREE  LODGINGS 

On  the  wall  of  the  right  side,  "  To-day's  Directions," 
by  Doctor  Nanjo,  is  shown  as  follows : — 

TO-DAY'S   DIRECTIONS. 

1.  Don't  forget  Three  Benefits  and  complain  of  Nothing 

to-day. 

2.  Don't  get  Angry  to-day. 

3.  Don't  tell  a  Lie  and  don't  act  an  Unreasonable  Conduct 

to-day. 

4.  Be  satisfied  to  be  living  and  endeavour  to  Work  to-day. 

The  above  are  cautions  for  to-day. 

Date.  SEKIKWA. 

{Nom-de-plume  of  Dr  Nanjo.} 

It  is  eight  in  the  evening,  and  you  come  near  the 
gate  of  the  free  lodging-house.  The  vicinity  of  the 
house  is  dense  of  smaller  houses,  and  the  street  is 
very  busy  with  passers7by  towards  evening.  Through 
darkness  of  the  road  you  can  see  two  or  three  men 
standing  under  the  roof  of  a  house,  or  crouching  near 
the  entrance  of  a  lane  between  houses,  and  all  they 
are  the  guests  to  the  muryo  shukuhakujo ;  having  no 
money  to  a  pay  a  rent  of  the  kichinyado,  they  are 
waiting  for  nine,  the  time  for  admission  to  the  charity 
building.  You  step  in  the  gate  and  wait  for  the  lodgers 
who  will  come  in  shortly.  All  the  rooms  of  the  house 
are  bright  with  the  electric  lights,  which  are  shining 
like  aureola  of  Amitabha. 

A  clock  on  the  wall  strikes  nine.  The  first  man 
that  comes  in  is  a  man  twenty-eight  or  nine  years 
old,  with  large  eyes  and  high  nose  on  the  dark  brown 
face.  He  is  clad  in  an  old  dirty  shirt,  its  colour 
almost  changed  to  brown,  over  which  he  puts  on  an 
old  black  hanten  (a  kind  of  jacket  for  labourer),  and 
his  dark  blue  momohiki  (cotton  drawers),  is  so  worn 
away  that  a  number  of  holes  can  be  seen  on  it.  He 
carries  nothing  but  an  old  towel.  When  he  is  en- 
quired of  by  a  clerk  of  the  office,  he  tells  he  is  a 
native  of  the  town  Tsuchiura  in  the  Ibaraki  Prefecture, 

49  D 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

and  can  find  no  means  to  get  bread  yet,  since  he 
came    to   Tokyo.     After   cleaning   the   feet    at    the 
washing-place  behind  the  house,  he  is  sent  to  the  hall 
upstairs.     Next  comes  an  old  man  about  forty  years 
old.     He  is  in  a  very  old,  old  clothes  like  that  of 
rikisha-mzn,   over  which   he  wraps    round   a   small 
piece  of  old  red  blanket.     He  says  he  was  born  at 
Takanawa  of  Tokyo,  and  at  present  he  is  employed 
as  a  coolie  for  funeral.     Though  he  can  earn  thirty  to 
thirty-five  sen  per   day  the  money  is  spent  up  for 
meal,  and  there  remains  nothing  for  the  kichinyado. 
The  third  man,  of  some  thirty-six  or  seven  years,  puts 
on  a  female's  old  clothes  over  a  dirty  white  summer 
clothes,  and  his  belt  is  made  of  two  old  towels  con- 
nected together.     The  old  clog  put  on  his  right  foot 
is  different  in  form  and  colour  from  that  of  the  left 
foot.     Being  a  native  of  the  town  Chiba,  of  the  Chiba 
Prefecture,  he  came  to  Tokyo  last  year,  and  was  em- 
ployed as  a  sentinel  for  an  illicit  prostitution  house 
at  Asakusa,  receiving  fifty  sen  a  day.     A  few  days  ago, 
however,  while  he  was  taking  a  meal  at  a  fried  fish 
stall,  near  by  his  master's  house,  the  secret  den  was 
suddenly  surprised  by  policemen,  and  at  once  he  was 
driven  out  under  charge  of  idleness   for   his   duty. 
These    three    are    followed    by  porters,  coolies   for 
landing,  flag-bearers  for  advertisement,  navvies,  and 
pushers    of   hand  -  carts,    all    being    the    excellent 
samples  of  the  heroes  of  extreme  poverty.     Up  to 
eleven  of  the  night  names  of  twenty-two  men  and 
one  woman  have  been  entered  in  the  office-book. 

The  hall  upstairs  is  the  resting-place  for  the  male 
only,  and  can  receive  more  than  one  hundred  at  once  ; 
the  room  for  the  female  being  prepared  downstairs. 
In  the  middle  parts  of  the  hall  there  are  two  large 
hibachi  (fire-box)  in  which  the  charcoal  fire  gives 
warmth  to  the  unfortunate  lodgers.  In  the  large 
closet  of  the  hall  about  fifty  or  sixty  sheets  of  futon 
(beddings)  are  filed  up,  all  these  futon  being  clean 
and  warm,  they  can  take  quiet  sleep  even  in  the  very 
cold  winter  night.  Before  they  go  to  bed  every  night 

50 


INNS  AND  FREE  LODGINGS 

they  must  offer  prayers  before  the  altar,  and  twice  a 
week  the  preaching  is  given  for  them  by  a  priest  sent 
from  the  Honganji  Temple.  The  average  number  of 
lodgers  every  night  is  said  to  be  twenty-four  or  five, 
and  almost  all  of  them  being  men — the  women  are 
very  rare  to  appear  here.  A  clerk  of  the  office  tells 
that  the  rate  of  female  refugees  is  less  than  fifteen 
per  thousand  males.  This  night  you  have  noticed  a 
woman  having  come  to  take  refuge  in  the  house. 
She  has  a  lovely  face,  being  some  twenty-two  or  three 
years  old,  but  she  seems  to  be  much  enervated  by  a 
long  sickness,  the  complexion  being  dark,  pale,  and 
the  breath  not  ordinary.  Even  a  piece  of  comb 
cannot  be  seen  on  her  rumpled  hair.  Being  asked 
by  the  office  clerk,  she  replies  that  she  is  a  native  of 
the  town  Maebashi,  of  the  Gumma  Prefecture ;  but 
hesitates  to  tell  further.  After  frequent  enquiries  by 
the  clerk,  she  at  last  is  compelled  to  confess  that,  at 
the  time  when  she  first  came  to  Tokyo,  three  years 
ago,  she  was  employed  as  a  waitress  in  a  small 
restaurant,  and  having  been  seduced  by  a  villain,  was 
sold  as  a  courtesan  in  the  hell  of  Kakigaracho.  Since 
the  last  summer  she  has  been  suffering  from  illness, 
and  having  been  given  up  by  the  physician,  and 
driven  out  by  the  hostess  of  the  hell,  she  has  no  home 
to  pass  the  night,  and  has  come  to  ask  mercy  of  the 
charity  house.  The  president  of  the  house  is  much 
sympathised  with  her,  and,  taking  her  into  the  female's 
room,  gives  order  to  a  servant  to  give  her  a  cup  of  tea 
and  the  charcoal  fire  in  a  fire-box.  What  a  contrast 
to  receive  a  sentinel  and  a  harlot  in  the  house  at  the 
same  night ! 

One  business  of  the  free  lodging-house  is  to  help 
to  find  work  for  those  who  are  out  of  employment, 
and  at  present  more  than  thirty  men  have  succeeded 
in  getting  their  suitable  occupation.  The  most 
notable  among  them  is  an  editor  of  a  certain 
industrial  newspaper.  He  came  to  Tokyo  as  a  poor 
student,  and,  having  been  unable  to  find  the  means  to 
get  money  for  school,  he  made  application  to  the 

51 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

house,    and     at     last     succeeded     in     the    present 
position. 

All  expenses  of  the  house — for  the  electric  lights, 
water-work,  land  rent,  charcoal,  salary  for  clerks  and 
servants — are  said  to  depend  upon  the  contributions 
of  benevolent  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  city. 

Now  you  got  good  experiences  for  the  extreme 
lowest  class  of  the  lodging-houses,  and  next  you  will 
try  to  pass  a  night  in  a  hotel  of  the  middle  rank. 
This  kind  of  hotels  is  for  travellers  to  Tokyo  from 
local  provinces,  and  most  of  them  are  situated  near 
the  railway  stations  around  the  city.  You  can  find 
abundance  of  higher  and  middle-class  hotels  near  the 
Shimbashi,  Shinagawa,  Uyeno,  and  Manseibashi 
Stations,  and  all  these  being  of  the  pure  Japanese 
system,  those  for  the  Europeans,  as  well  as  the 
Japanese  ones  of  the  first  rank,  are  rather  in  the 
interior  parts  of  the  city — the  largest  and  most 
splendid  European  hotels  being  the  Imperial  Hotel 
at  Yamashitacho,  very  near  to  Hibiya  Park,  and  the 
two  Seiyoken  hotels,  one  at  Tsukiji  and  the  other  in 
Uyeno  Park. 

In  disguise  of  a  sightseer  you  enter  a  hotel  of 
middle  class,  near  the  Shimbashi  Station,  and  being 
received  by  an  old  clerk  at  the  counter,  ask  him 
whether  there  is  a  room  for  you  to  pass  the  night. 
Then  you  are  guided  to  a  room  upstairs,  from  a 
window  of  which  you  can  look  down  the  thronged 
street  directly  leading  to  the  station  front.  The 
room  is  of  the  six  mats,1  furnished  with  the  tokonoma 
(alcove)  of  three  feet  and  the  oshure  (closet)  of  six  feet 
wide.  At  the  centre  of  the  ceiling  there  hangs  an 
electric  light,  and  on  the  wall  of  the  tokonoma  a 
painted  hanging  picture  (kakemono)  of  birds  and  flowers 
is  hung  ;  a  bronze  ornament  of  the  lion  form  and  a  tall 
white  vase  filled  up  with  wistaria  flowers  are  arranged 

1  In  Japan  it  is  a  custom  that  we  measure  the  extent  of  a  room  by 
the  number  of  mats  put  down  on  its  floor,  and  the  extent  of  one  mat  is 
six  feet  by  three  feet. 

52 


INNS  AND  FREE  LODGINGS 

on  the  raised  floor  of  the  alcove.  In  the  room  of  a 
Japanese  hotel  the  bed  is  not  generally  furnished ; 
but  beddings  are  prepared  on  the  mat  floor  when  the 
guest  is  to  go  to  bed.  A  servant  maid  comes  in  with 
a  tea  service  and  a  plate  of  cakes.  After  serving  a  cup 
of  tea,  she  asks  you  which  class  of  lodging  rents  you 
would  pay  for  the  night,  and  you  answer  that  you  pre- 
fer the  second  one ;  at  the  same  time  you  give  yen  i 
for  the  chadai  (tea  money,  or  the  tip  to  the  hotel), 
and  fifty  sen  for  a  tip  to  the  maid.  She  thanks  for 
your  beneficence,  and  goes  out  to  prepare  your  supper. 
The  lodging  rent  of  a  Japanese  hotel  is  commonly 
classified  into  three  ranks,  the  first,  the  second,  and 
the  third,  and  an  average  rent  of  the  middle-class 
hotels  is  yen  2  for  the  first,  1.50  for  the  second,  and 
i. oo  for  the  third  class.  The  old  habit  of  giving 
chadai  to  the  hotel  is  not  yet  generally  abandoned, 
and  the  hotel  men  expect  to  receive  the  money  from 
even  a  night  guest ;  if  you  do  not  give  this  you  will 
be  treated  very  unpleasantly. 

The  maid-servant  appears  again  and  tells  you  to 
take  bath  before  supper,  leaving  a  yukata  (bath  gown 
and  a  towel).  After  putting  on  the  gown  and  carry- 
ing the  towel  you  are  led  to  the  bathroom  downstairs. 
Entering  the  room,  you  find  at  one  corner  of  the  room 
a  large  square  wooden  bath-tub,  below  which  all  the 
floor  of  the  room  is  boarded  for  the  washing  place. 
When  you  get  out  of  the  tub,  banto  (wash-boy  or 
cleanser)  comes  into  the  room  prepared  with  a  soap 
and  a  towel,  and  begins  to  clean  your  back.  At  one 
side  there  are  two  clean  hot  and  cold  water  basins, 
from  which  you  can  get  the  water  into  a  bucket  for 
washing  your  face  and  head.  As  soon  as  you  get 
back  into  your  room  a  small  table  of  the  supper  is 
brought  by  the  maid-servant.  You  take  out  a  twenty 
sen  silver  from  your  purse  and  ask  her  to  give  it  to 
banto  of  the  bathroom  as  a  tip  for  his  cleaning  work. 
The  tip-giving  to  the  bathroom  man  is  also  a  custom  in 
the  Japanese  hotel,  and  we  are  told  that  the  banto 
receives  no  salary  from  the  hotel,  living  on  the  tips 

53 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

from  the  guests.  If  you  wish  to  take  drink  in  supper, 
you  tell  the  maid,  who  at  once  brings  a  bottle  of 
European  or  Japanese  wine,  whichever  as  you  please. 
While  you  are  enjoying  drink,  there  appear  the  clerk 
of  the  hotel  and  the  banto  of  the  bathroom,  to  thank 
you  for  the  chadai  and  the  tip  respectively.  You 
finish  supper,  and  the  maid,  after  taking  the  supper 
table  out  of  room,  begins  to  prepare  bed  at  one 
side  of  the  room,  futon  and  pillow  being  taken  down 
from  the  closet  in  the  room.  Then  the  maid  retires, 
bidding  good-night.  It  is  still  too  early  to  go  to  bed, 
and  you  sit  down  on  the  zabuton  (a  small  square 
sitting  cushion)  and  smoke,  thinking  how  to  spend 
time  or  expecting  some  interesting  event  to  happen. 
The  hotel  is  furnished  with  more  than  twenty  rooms 
in  both  up-  and  down-stairs,  and  this  evening  all  the 
rooms  seem  to  be  occupied  by  guests.  In  your  next 
right  room  there  are  three  men  who  are  natives  of 
the  northern  district,  judging  from  their  dialect,  and 
they  are  on  their  way  back  from  Kyoto,  where  they 
visited  to  worship  the  Imperial  Mausoleum  of  the 
late  Emperor.  They  are  taking  sake,  and  talking 
very  loud  with  their  queer  dialect.  The  occupants  of 
the  left  room  are  a  young  couple.  They  seem  to 
have  finished  supper,  and  are  whispering  very  secretly, 
utterly  unknown  whether  they  are  citizens  or 
provincials.  You  come  out  to  engawa  (balcony)  and 
look  down  the  street.  It  is  past  ten  now,  and  you 
recognise  carriages,  motor-cars,  and  rikisha  hurrying 
to  the  station ;  all  these  people  are  to  catch  the 
express  train  for  Shimonoseki.  The  advertisement 
tower  of  "  Club  Washing  Powder,"  illuminated  with 
electric  lights  of  various  colours,  stands  high  in  front  of 
the  station,  and  can  be  seen  just  directly  to  your  eyes. 
The  noises  of  throngs  and  sounds  of  running  trams  in 
the  Ginza  street  come  to  your  ears  in  mixed  confusion. 
You  keep  awake  near  twelve,  but  as  there  occurs  no 
striking  event,  and  all  the  guests  in  every  room  have 
gone  to  their  peaceful  sleep,  you  go  to  bed  at  last  too. 

54 


CHAPTER  VI 

GETSHA  :    RESTAURANTS  AND  MACHIAI 

IT  is  an  evening  of  spring  season.  Accompanied  by 
one  of  your  friends,  you  drive  a  motor-car  through 
the  waves  of  lights  in  the  broad  street  of  the 
Nihonbashi  Ward,  and  stop  it  at  the  entrance  gate  of 
a  restaurant  called  the  Kurataya.  When  you  enter 
the  porch  of  the  house  some  four  or  five  housemaids 
appear  to  receive  you,  and  one  of  them,  leading  to  the 
inner  part,  shows  you  to  a  large  room  of  twenty  mats. 
The  room  is  elegantly  adorned  at  every  point,  and  a 
housemaid  brings  two  zabuton  (cushions)  made  of 
figured  satin ;  and,  putting  them  on  the  mat-floor  in 
front  of  the  alcove,  ask  you  and  your  friend  to  sit  on 
them.  Then  two  round  fire-boxes  and  tea-things  are 
carried  in  by  other  three  maids.  After  the  tea  is 
served  the  two  small  black  lacquered  zen  (tables)  are 
prepared  before  the  guests — the  tables  flat  and  with- 
out legs  are  called  the  kaisekai-zen. 

By  and  by  some  six  or  seven  dishes  of  pure  Japanese 
cooking  are  arranged  on  each  table,  bottles  of  sake 
being  held  and  served  by  the  two  young  maids  who  sit 
down  before  each  of  the  guests.  You  tell  one  of  the 
maids  to  call  a  number  of  geisha  and  oshaku  {geisha  is 
singing-,  and  oshaku  dancing-girls).  About  half  an 
hour  there  appear  five  large  and  small  girls — three  sing- 
ing, eighteen  to  twenty- two,  and  two  dancing,  thirteen 
or  fourteen  years  old.  They  are  girls  belonging  to  the 
party  of  the  Nihonbashi  quarter,  the  larger  dressed  in 
stylish  coloured  crape  clothes  with  the  skirt  trailing, 
and  the  smaller  in  gaudy  costumes  with  long  ends  of 

55 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

red  brocade  belt  hanging  down  about  to  the  heels. 
The  singing-girls  are  prepared  with  samisen  (a  kind 
of  guitar  with  three  strings),  and  the  dancing-girls 
with  tsuzumi  (a  drum  shaped  like  an  hour  glass)  and 
mai-ogi  (dancing-fan).  Taking  place  of  maid-servants, 
the  girls  wait  on  at  table,  and  if  you  give  a  cup  to  one 
of  them  she  receives  it  with  thanks,  and  after  empty- 
ing it  soon,  pays  it  back  to  you ;  of  course  the  cup  is 
washed  in  a  small  silver  basin  called  haisen,  which  is 
filled  with  pure  water  and  provided  between  the  tables. 
It  is  a  rule  in  the  society  of  girls  that  though  they 
can  be  a  partner  of  guests  on  drinking,  yet  they  are 
not  allowed  to  eat  anything  in  presence  of  them. 

To  hire  a  geisha,  the  restaurant  cannot  directly 
send  for  her,  but  she  is  indirectly  called  to  the 
restaurant  through  the  office  of  the  geisha  guild  of 
each  quarter,  the  guild  office  being  called  the 
Kemban.  When  a  girl  is  hired  to  a  restaurant  she 
first  comes  from  her  house  to  the  guild  office,  and 
then  goes  to  the  restaurant  escorted  by  a  man  of  the 
office ;  the  man  is  called  hakoya,  and  carries  the 
samisen  of  girls.  It  is  a  habit  for  the  hakoya  to  be 
bestowed  with  a  tip  by  guests  when  he  sends  a  girl 
to  the  restaurant.  Now,  singing-girls  take  up  their 
samisen  and  begin  to  play  upon  them,  singing  some 
fashionable  songs  ;  one  of  oshaku  or  young  dancing- 
maidens  plays  on  the  tsuzumi>  and  the  other  opens 
her  fan  and  begins  to  dance.  After  singing  and 
dancing  they  sit  down  again  near  the  guests,  taking 
proper  positions  for  themselves.  Satisfied  with  a 
good  quantity  of  sake  now,  you  are  smoking,  and  ask 
one  of  the  older  girls  to  tell  the  daily  life  of  geisha 
and  their  amusements.  She  smiles,  and  narrates  the 
real  state  of  her  society  as  follows  : — 

"  Our  world  comes  after  sunset  every  day  through- 
out the  year,  though  we  are  rarely  hired  in  daytime. 
We  pass  every  evening  at  restaurants  or  machiai 
(waiting- house);  but  those  unhappy  girls  who  are 
unpopular  and  compelled  to  stay  at  their  own  houses 

56 


RESTAURANTS  AND   MACHIAI 

are  ridiculed  under  the  sarcastic  name  of  ochahiki 
geisha.  Everyday  life  of  our  society's  girls  is  various, 
but  we  generally  get  up  at  six  on  the  morning,  except 
those  who  were  detained  at  machiai  till  very  late  in 
the  previous  night,  and  keep  sleeping  to  about  ten  or 
eleven.  Getting  out  of  bed  at  six,  and  after  washing 
the  face,  we  sit  down  before  the  mirror  on  the  toilet 
stand  and  begin  to  comb  the  hair — it  takes  for  comb- 
ing more  than  half  an  hour.  On  the  other  side,  oshaku 
or  smaller  girls  are  already  aroused  and  driven  out  of 
bed  by  the  mistress  of  the  house,  and  very  busy  to 
sweep  and  clean  the  rooms.  When  all  the  rooms  are 
cleaned  up,  they  must  offer  lights  to  the  God  of  Luck 
on  the  altar  honoured  in^the  mistress's  room.  As  soon 
as  they  finish  breakfast  they  are  sent  out  to  the  master 
of  dancing.  When  we  finish  breakfast  it  is  about  nine, 
and  most  of  younger  geisha  go  out  to  their  masters  for 
the  exercise  of  samisen.  The  older  girls  who  remain 
at  home  read  letters  from  their  lovers  or  acquainted 
guests,  and  those  who  were  late  last  night  are  yawning 
and  hardly  get  out  of  bed  at  about  ten.  At  eleven  we 
go  out  for  the  hairdressing,  and  there  spend  one  hour 
at  least,  chattering  with  girls  assembled  from  various 
houses.  Coming  back  from  the  hairdresser,  we  go  to 
the  bath-house ;  the  polishing  instruments  carried  to 
the  bath  are  numerous — at  least  seven  kinds.  Chatters 
and  twitters  in  the  bath  while  cleaning  and  polishing 
are  very  noisy.  When  we  come  back  from  the  bath 
it  is  past  one,  and  we  take  tiffin.  Sometimes  we  are 
invited  by  the  mistress  of  a  restaurant  or  machiai  to 
the  theatre,  and  much  pleased  to  spend  the  afternoon 
by  seeing  our  favourite  actor's  performance.  If  we  are 
at  home  in  afternoon  we  take  up  a  samisen,  and  kill 
time  by  playing  on  it ;  but  the  accomplished  older  girls 
are  requested  to  teach  or  review  dancing,  singing,  and 
samisen  for  the  smaller  dancing-girls  (oshaku}  in  the 
leisure  time  every  afternoon. 

"  Approaching  the  tea-time  (3  P.M.)  there  are  heard 
cries  of  cake-pedlars  in  these  geisha  alleys,  and  small 

57 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

girls  some  eleven  or  twelve  years  old  are  seen  to  peep 
out  of  their  entrance  door  and  buy  something  from 
them ;  please  remember  that  all  the  younger  and 
smaller  girls  in  our  society,  without  exception,  are 
very  fond  of  the  sweet  named  the  mitsumame  (a  mix- 
ture of  boiled  beans  and  small  pieces  of  rice-cake  and 
others,  immersed  in  syrup).  After  four  telephone 
messages  come  from  the  guild  office  informing  the 
names  of  restaurants  where  we  are  hired  to  attend  this 
evening.  If  some  of  girls  who  have  been  appointed 
are  out  to  the  theatre,  the  maid-servant  of  our  house 
at  once  send  telephone  to  them  to  come  back  soon 
and  make  preparations  for  the  evening.  About  one 
hour  before  the  appointed  time  for  attendance  to 
the  restaurant,  one  or  two  hakoya  (guild  boys)  come 
to  our  house  and  help  for  preparations ;  these 
boys  are  very  well  trained  to  dress  geisha. 

"  After  the  dark  those  girls  who  are  not  yet  hired  go 
out  for  rambling  in  the  ennichi  street  near  their  house. 
When  the  girls,  who  have  finished  dressing,  are  on  the 
point  to  go  out  from  their  house  for  the  restaurant,  it 
is  a  custom  in  our  society  that  the  mistress  of  the  house 
strikes  sparks  with  flint  and  steal  against  the  back  of 
the  girls,  wishing  a  good  luck  of  the  evening.  We 
first  call  at  the  guild  office,  and,  accompanied  by  the 
hakoya,  go  to  the  restaurant.  You  know  very  well 
how  we  are  after  the  appearance  in  presence  of  the 
guests  in  the  restaurants.  We  are  very  busy,  and  be- 
come toilworn  if  we  have  to  wait  upon  a  great  party 
attended  by  a  great  number  of  guests.  Sometimes 
there  is  such  a  case  that,  according  to  a  previous 
promise,  we  meet  with  the  customers  at  a  restaurant  or 
waiting-house  and  set  out  from  there  for  an  excursion, 
commonly  to  a  hot-bath  resort  in  an  adjacent  province. 
On  that  occasion  we  are  dressed  like  ladies  or 
daughters,  and  take  the  automobile  or  the  train  in 
night.  How  happy  we  are  to  take  pleasures  quietly  at 
the  mineral  bath,  while  all  the  expenses  for  the  hotel, 
and  the  fees  for  ourselves,  are  paid  by  the  customers  ! 

58 


RESTAURANTS   AND   MACHIA1 

"On  another  occasion  we  have  to  spend  up  one 
whole  evening  by  attending  to  a  Review  Meeting 
held  by  the  master  of  dancing  or  samisen  at  least 
twice  a  year.  The  meeting  is  called  the  Osarai,  and 
generally  opened  at  a  large  hall  of  a  famous  restaurant ; 
all  the  girls,  old  and  young,  trained  by  or  under  train- 
ing of  the  master,  have  the  duty  to  attend  the  meeting. 
Competitions  of  the  art  among  girls  of  different  geisha 
houses  are  very  lively,  and  the  reviewing  is  continued 
from  five  or  six  to  ten  or  eleven  in  the  evening.  The 
girls  compete  not  only  for  their  art,  but  also  emulate 
one  another  for  their  dresses,  being  backed  by  her  own 
intimate  customers.  Elder  girls  endeavour  to  do  best 
for  the  younger  girls  of  their  own  houses,  and  forget 
everything  for  themselves  till  the  meeting  is  closed. 
Certainly,  the  attendance  to  the  Review  Meeting  is  an 
extra  work  for  the  geisha  society. 

"  If  we  are  hired  to  the  machiai,  it  is  generally  after 
ten  or  eleven,  and  there  is  no  need  to  tell  further  about 
merriment  there,  as  you  know  very  well.  The  time 
we  can  come  back  to  home  from  the  restaurant  or 
machiai  every  night  is  twelve ;  in  summer  we  feel 
revived  by  the  cool  air  on  the  way,  but  in  winter 
night  how  cold  it  is  on  the  rikisha,  as  if  the  ears  and 
nose  are  frozen  up  by  the  cutting  north  wind.  When 
we  get  in  our  house  it  is  near  one,  and,  changing 
clothes  at  once,  we  sit  down  near  the  fire-box.  Talk- 
ing one  another  about  the  events  or  guests  in  this 
night,  we  take  tea  and  cakes,  and  then  go  to  bed. 
Some  go  to  sleep  instantly,  and  some  are  smoking  in 
bed.  In  winter  night  we  are  often  surprised  by  ring- 
ing of  the  fire-bell,  and  look  out  for  the  fire  through 
the  window.  At  last  all  of  us  fall  in  sound  sleep. 
Almost  all  the  girls  of  our  profession  are  offering 
prayers  every  day  to  a  certain  shrine,  and  entreat  the 
prosperity  of  their  business  and  the  happiness  of  their 
future.  On  the  monthly  festival  days  of  the  shrine 
we  never  fail  to  get  up  very  early  at  four,  or  five,  and 
go  to  the  shrine  to  worship  the  god  before  breakfast." 

59 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

You  are  much  interested  with  the  long  narration 
on  the  geisha's  daily  life.  It  is  now  past  ten,  and, 
after  paying  the  bill  and  giving  the  chadai  to  the 
restaurant  and  the  tip  to  the  housemaids,  you  and 
your  friend  leave  the  restaurant. 

By  the  way  the  famous  Japanese  restaurants  in 
Tokyo  will  be  introduced  here. 

Restaurants  are  business  for  night,  though  a  few 
visit  them  in  daytime  by  some  unavoidable  reasons. 
The  largest  and  most  notable  Japanese  restaurants 
are  the  Yaozen  and  the  Tokiwaya ;  the  former 
is  situated  at  Sanya  in  Asakusa  Ward,  and  so  old 
a  shop  that  it  exists  since  the  feudal  age  of  the 
Tokugawa  Shogunate,  and  the  latter  at  Hamacho  in 
the  Nihonbashi  Ward,  at  present  more  popular  than 
the  other.  The  first-class  restaurants  next  to  the 
above  two  are  the  Kurataya  at  Himonocho,  the 
Hyakuseki  at  Yoshicho,  the  Owariya  at  Yokoyama- 
cho,  and  the  Tokiwa  at  Hamacho ;  the  last  one 
being  commonly  called  the  Ko-tokiwa  (minor 
Tokiwa)  in  contrast  to  the  great  Tokiwa -ya  in 
the  same  street.  The  Chukatei  of  the  Shokusha 
Jimmichi  and  the  Shimamura  at  the  side  street  of 
Tori  Shichome  serve  very  nice  dishes  too.  The 
Okada  of  Hamacho,  the  Fukuir5  of  Takasagocho, 
the  Daimata  of  Yagenbori,  and  the  Kikuzumi  of 
Moto-daikucho  are  to  be  ranked  among  the  first- 
class  restaurants  in  the  Nihonbashi  Ward.  Near 
Shimbashi,  the  Kwagetsu  to  the  north  and  the 
Kogetsu  to  the  south  of  the  bridge  are  the  very 
large  houses,  and  the  Matsumotoro  of  Owaricho  lately 
made  a  great  success — we  are  told  that  the  quantity 
of  fish  and  other  materials  daily  consumed  in  the 
house  are  more  than  those  of  any  other  restaurants  in 
Tokyo,  and  that  the  house  is  most  suitable  for  giving 
a  party.  The  Kinrokutei  is  very  famous  for  the 
excellent  cooking,  and  the  Midoriya  near  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  has  a  splendid 
building,  and  is  very  nice  in  its  dishes.  In  the 

60 


RESTAURANTS  AND   MACHIAI 

quarter  of  Tsukiji,  the  Hisago,  the  Shinkiraku,  and 
the  Kosetsuken  are  very  good,  and  the  Nodaya  is 
very  popular  by  the  fame  of  its  amateur  cooking. 
The  Man-yasu  of  Kobikicho  in  the  same  quarter  is 
famous  for  its  large  buildings  and  splendid  gardens, 
and,  being  apt  for  parties  and  comparatively  cheap 
in  its  charges,  is  always  flourishing  similar  to  the 
Matsumotoro. 

Removing  to  the  Yanagibashi  quarter,  the  sphere 
of  influence  for  the  Yanagibashi  geisha  circle,  the 
Kamesei  at  the  foot  of  the  bridge  (Yanagibashi) 
is  one  of  the  largest  and  highest  restaurants  in  the 
city,  and  the  Ryukotei  adjoining  to  it  is  also  a  very 
celebrated  one. 

Asakusa  Park  is  abundant  of  large  and  small 
restaurants ;  but  there  are  very  few  which  can  be 
mentioned  as  the  good  houses — the  Manbai  and 
the  Ichinao  being  best  among  all.  The  Yakko, 
near  the  back  gate  of  the  Higashi  Honganji  Temple, 
and  the  Jubako  of  Sanya  are  excellent  for  their 
cooking  of  eels  and  snapping  turtles. 

The  Tokiwa  -  kadan,  in  Uyeno  Park,  is  a  large 
restaurant  occupying  a  very  good  position  of  the 
park,  and  governing  the  whole  views  of  the  capital, 
and  the  lyomon  of  Dobocho,  near  by  the  park,  is 
a  very  old  house  and  renowned  for  its  superior 
cookery,  these  two  being  the  notable  houses  in 
the  Shitaya  Ward. 

In  the  Kanda  Ward,  the  Kaikaro,  within  the 
precincts  of  the  Kanda  Myojin  Shrine,  and  the 
Kinseiro  of  Renjakucho  have  a  great  number  of 
rooms  in  their  magnificent  buildings,  and  are  always 
full  of  guests ;  but  as  for  cooking,  the  Hanaya  of 
Kobusho,  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  River  Kanda- 
gawa,  has  a  higher  reputation  than  the  two. 

In  the  so-called  bluff  quarter  we  hardly  recom- 
mend very  good  restaurants,  but  the  Yaokan  of 
Tamachi  is  an  old  house  in  this  quarter,  and 
most  popular  among  others ;  the  Mikawaya  of 

61 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

Tameike  is  very  well  both  in  building  and  cooking, 
and  can  be  said  to  be  one  of  the  first-class  restaurants. 
These  two  houses  are  located  among  the  sphere  of 
influence  of  the  Akasoka  girls'  circle. 

The  Koyokan  (the  Maple  Club),  in  Shiba  Park, 
is  a  noted  restaurant,  at  the  gate  of  which  a  police- 
box  stands.  The  feast  of  nobles  and  the  entertain- 
ment of  foreigners  are  often  held  in  this  club.  This 
aristocratic  restaurant  is  excellent  in  everything — 
rooms,  gardens,  views,  and  waitresses.  The  "  Maple 
Dance,"  performed  by  the  young  and  beautiful  girls 
of  the  club,  is  very  famous  and  popular. 

Along  the  shore  of  the  Shinagawa  Bay  there  are 
the  Takeshibakan,  the  Shibaurakan,  and  the  Ikesu. 
All  these  restaurants  are  good  for  the  hot  summer 
season,  and  we  can  take  sea-water  bath  there. 

We  have  very  celebrated  restaurants  in  the 
suburban  quarters  round  the  city  —  the  Matsuasa 
of  Omori  on  the  seashore  of  the  Gulf  of  Takye, 
and  the  Yaomatsu  and  the  Uyehan  along  the  River 
Sumida.  On  the  upper  reaches  of  the  river  there  are 
the  branches  of  these  last  two  restaurants.  Both  are 
situated  at  the  quiet  and  retired  places — the  Yaomatsu 
near  the  Suijin  Shrine  and  the  Uyehan  at  the  back- 
ground of  the  Mokuboji  Temple,  and  frequented 
by  the  stylish  citizens  of  Tokyo.  The  Hashimoto 
is  of  the  high  renown  in  the  eastern  suburb,  and 
placed  very  near  Kameido  Park  and  the  Myoken 
Temple  of  Yanagi-shima. 

In  Tokyo  you  are  often  told  of  some  special 
eating-houses,  where  a  peculiar  kind  of  food  is  served, 
anti  the  fame  of  these  houses  is  very  high  on  account 
of  this  peculiarity  of  dishes.  At  a  turning  in  the 
north  side  of  the  electric  tram  halting  place  of 
Sudacho  you  will  find  an  eating-house  called  the 
Kaneman.  The  characteristic  dish  of  this  house  is 
the  globefish  flesh  boiled  in  the  pan.  The  Tokyo 
citizens  are  not  generally  very  fond  of  the  globefish 
flesh,  because  they  fear  its  poison ;  but  in  Kyushu 

62 


RESTAURANTS  AND  MACHIAI 

provinces,  and  specially  in  its  northern  quarters,  the 
flesh  of  the  fish  is  very  popular  among  the  natives, 
and  treated  as  the  daintiest  meat  among  all  other 
fish  flesh.  It  is  said  among  them  that  if  the  globe- 
fish  is  well  cooked  there  is  no  fear  for  its  poison. 
Now  you  enter  the  Kaneman  and  take  your  seat  by  a 
small  table  in  a  large  room.  The  room  is  brilliantly 
lighted  by  the  pale  gaslights,  and  full  of  customers. 
You  give  order  to  a  maid-servant  to  bring  a  pan  of 
globefish  flesh  and  a  bottle  of  sake.  To  make  assur- 
ance, you  ask  the  maid  whether  there  is  no  fear  for 
poisoning,  and  the  guests  near  by  laugh  for  your 
foolish  question.  Somewhat  hesitated  by  fear,  but 
with  great  valour,  you  try  the  first  piece  and  find 
what  a  nice  taste  it  has — incomparable  to  any  others 
of  fish  flesh  !  The  dish  costs  only  ten  sen  per  pan. 

The  next  peculiar  eating-house  rather  of  the  lowest 
class  is  the  horseflesh  shop.  The  largest  and  most 
popular  house  is  the  Okada  at  Hatchobori  in  the 
Kyobashi  Ward,  and  the  hall  of  the  house  is  always 
found  full  of  at  least  thirty  or  forty  customers  every 
evening.  The  people  who  visit  the  shop  generally 
consist  of  those  who  believe  the  horseflesh  to  be 
effective  for  warming  the  cold  constitution,  or  those 
who  have  too  poor  a  pocket  to  go  to  a  beef-shop. 
The  flesh  costs  only  seven  sen  per  pan. 

If  you  be  asked  by  any  one  whether  you  are 
acquainted  with  an  eating-house  called  the  Marugin, 
perhaps  you  would  answer  by  a  negative.  It  is  a 
shop  of  oden.  In  this  book  you  read  often  of  stalls 
of  odenya,  but  the  Marugin  is  a  large  house  situated 
at  the  cross-roads  of  Sudacho,  and  though  it  belongs 
to  the  eating-houses  of  the  lowest  class,  it  may 
probably  be  the  first  and  largest  odenya  in  Tokyo. 
The  room,  lighted  with  electric  lights,  is  furnished 
with  tables  and  chairs,  in  place  of  mats  and  futon,  very 
common  in  the  shops  of  the  lower  rank.  Oden  is,  as 
previously  explained,  a  special  kind  of  food  boiled 
down  with  soy,  its  chief  materials  consisting  of  fish, 

63 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

bean-curd,  konnyaku,  and  taro.  When  you  visit  the 
shop  you  find  a  man  of  the  European  clothes  and  the 
two  young  fellows  of  merchant  costume  ;  all  of  them 
seem  to  be  much  intoxicated  already.  You  take  a 
chair  by  the  side  of  a  long  table  and  begin  to  drink 
masamune  (name  of  a  Japanese  wine),  taking  oden  of 
kani  (crab  flesh)  and  suji  (sinewy  flesh  of  fish).  The 
young  merchants  sing  some  fashionable  songs,  and, 
turning  to  you,  beg  your  pardon  for  their  noisiness  ; 
in  return,  you  admire  their  skill  of  singing.  Then 
they  present  a  glass  of  sake  to  you,  and  at  once  you 
repay  it.  The  man  of  the  European  dress  is  almost 
inclined  to  be  maudlin,  and  the  two  others  are  very 
kind  to  tend  him.  They  tell  you  that  the  man  is 
a  clerk  of  a  bank,  and  that  he  has  yen  1,000  in  his 
bag.  You  understand  they  are  tending  him  by  in- 
tention to  accompany  him  to  some  interesting  place 
for  this  night ;  but  you  leave  the  house  shortly.  You 
know  not  what  went  on  with  them  further  in  this 
night. 

It  was  an  evening  of  autumn  when  a  party  of  our 
friends  held  a  dinner  at  a  certain  restaurant  near 
Shimbashi.  The  garden  of  the  restaurant  was  very 
beautiful  with  the  several  flower-beds  of  chrysanthe- 
mum— full  of  large  and  small  flowers  of  yellow, 
white,  red,  purple,  and  golden  colours.  Our  party 
consisted  of  some  thirty  members,  who  occupied  a 
large  room  upstairs,  and  ten  large  and  five  small 
geisha,  mixed  with  eight  maid-servants  of  the  house, 
were  waiting  upon  the  meeting.  When  it  was  past 
ten,  and  now  all  persons  being  drunk  and  in  their  top 
of  pleasure,  the  feast  was  nearly  to  be  closed.  I  called 
an  acquainted  older  geisha  to  my  side  and  whispered 
her  to  accompany  me  to  a  tnachiai,  where  I  intended  to 
go  this  night  after  the  close  of  the  banquet.  She 
consented  at  once,  and  as  the  meeting  was  closed 
near  eleven  I  secretly  escaped  from  the  rest  of  our 
party  and  drove  a  rikisha  for  a  waiting  -  house, 

64 


RESTAURANTS  AND   MA  CHI  A I 

followed  by  another  rikisha  of  the  promised  girl. 
The  machiai,  at  the  entrance  of  which  our  rikisha 
stopped,  was  a  house  called  the  Tachibanaya  at 
Tsukiji,  not  far  from  the  Shimbashi  Station.  Re- 
ceived by  the  hostess  and  maid-servants,  we  were  at 
once  shown  in  a  room  innermost  of  the  house. 

Business  of  the  class  of  houses  called  machiai  is  to 
receive  guests  who  want  to  have  a  place  for  meeting, 
and,  as  those  who  are  to  make  a  meeting  wait  each 
other  for  their  arrival  at  an  appointed  house,  hence 
the  name  machiai  (waiting  each  other)  is  produced. 
At  present,  however,  most  of  the  customers  for  the 
machiai — or  rather  all  of  them — consist  of  gentle- 
men who  intend  to  make  a  private  meeting  with  their 
acquainted  geisha,  and  consequently  the  mention  of 
machtai  is  always  associated  with  attendance  of  the 
girls.  While  the  public  meetings  or  banquets  are 
held  at  the  restaurant,  the  guests  to  machiai  go  there 
very  privately,  and  naturally  the  rooms  of  any 
machiai  are  arranged  one  another  in  such  a  con- 
struction that  one  room  is  entirely  isolated  by  the 
others  by  the  walls,  intermediate  gardens,  or  corridors. 
Around  any  quarter  of  the  city  where  there  is  a  den 
of  geisha,  there  you  find  the  street  of  machiai,  so  close 
and  inseparable  is  the  connection  between  the  geisha 
and  the  machiai.  Of  course  there  are  various  ranks  of 
these  waiting-houses  from  the  higher  to  the  lowest,  and 
those  of  the  lowest  class  are  said  to  be  haunted  even 
by  some  kind  of  private  harlots  or  courtesans.  It  is 
strange  that  the  machiai  of  the  first  rank  strictly 
refuse  to  receive  unacquainted  visitors,  and,  if  you 
wish  to  go  to  a  house  first,  you  must  be  accompanied 
or  introduced  by  your  friend  well  acquainted  with 
the  house.  In  a  machiai  you  can  drink  and  eat  any- 
thing as  you  please,  just  as  in  a  restaurant,  but  as 
there  is  no  preparations  of  cookery  in  any  machiai, 
all  drinks  and  food  are  supplied  from  a  restaurant. 
The  fixed  income  of  the  machiai  is  the  charge  for 
the  room,  which  costs  yen  i  or  2  per  person  for  one 

65  E 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

evening,  and  you  shall  not  forget  to  give  the  chodai  to 
the  house  and  the  tip  to  the  maids,  as  done  in  the 
hotel  or  restaurant.  As  the  machiai  is  not  a  hotel, 
it  is  not  allowed  to  stay  whole  night  for  guests  or 
geisha^  and  samisen  playing  or  loud  singing  being 
prohibited  after  twelve,  these  houses  shut  up  the  door 
after  twelve.  But  sometimes  on  early  morning  you 
will  find  a  gentleman  going  out  of  a  machiai,  and  on 
the  other  occasion  a  rikisha  of  a  geisha-V&&  girl 
running  out  of  the  gate  of  the  same  house.  I  don't 
know  whether  the  man  is  a  relative  of  the  hostess  or 
the  girl  is  a  maid-servant  of  the  house. 

The  room  in  which  the  two,  I  and  the  girl,  were 
shown  was  of  six  mats,  nicely  arranged  with  the  stylish 
decorations.  I  sat  down  by  a  square  red-sandalwood 
table,  and  the  girl  on  my  opposite  side.  Feeling 
thirsty,  I  ordered  a  housemaid  to  bring  a  bottle  of 
beer,  and  when  it  was  poured  into  a  glass  by  my  girl, 
I  emptied  it  at  one  draught.  After  ordering  sake  and 
some  dishes,  I  requested  the  girl  to  tell  some  interest- 
ing stories  regarding  her  circles.  The  following  story 
done  by  her  will  explain  one  side  of  the  real  features 
of  geisha : — 

"  We  girls  of  gay  circles  are  altogether  said  to  be 
fickle,  faithless,  two-tongued,  and  plotful,  and  there 
may  be  such  a  tendency  among  some  of  them,  but 
according  to  my  impartial  judgment — I  know  the 
true  features  of  our  circles  very  well,  as  I  have  grown 
up  and  still  live  in  them — criticism  or  blames  against 
us  should  be  done  after  the  discrimination  on  the 
kind  or  qualities  of  girls  were  properly  done.  The 
girls  who  have  suffered  pains  or  experiences  within 
the  society  of  geisha  profession  are  much  kinder  and 
more  compassionate,  and  have  greater  inclination  to 
sympathise  with  the  others,  than  the  common,  un- 
professional girls. 

"  Men  reproach  us  to  be  fickle,  faithless,  or  plotful, 
and  the  cause  of  these  blames  is  founded  upon  our 
profession  after  all.  Every  day  we  have  to  meet  and 

66 


RESTAURANTS  AND    MACHIAI 

wait  upon  guests  who  are  not  acquainted  before,  and 
to  appear  kind  and  familiar  equally  to  men  of  any 
qualities.  It  is  natural  that  charms  and  compliments 
for  every  man  become  our  habits.  While  waiting 
upon  guests,  we  must  peep  into  the  true  state  of  each 
of  their  characters,  and  the  efforts  to  understand  each 
man  gradually  lead  us  to  be  suspicious  for  everything. 
The  girls  in  our  circles  are  wonderfully  developed  in 
their  wit,  and  if  the  wit  is  further  cultured,  it  is  turned 
to  sympathy  and  compassion.  Being  very  suspicious, 
however,  the  tendency  to  sympathy  and  compassion 
is  suppressed  down  by  ourselves,  and  thus  they 
reproach  us  to  be  faithless  and  cold-hearted.  What 
a  nonsense  to  be  subjected  to  such  insult,  in  con- 
sequence of  misunderstanding  upon  our  true  spirit ! 
In  order  to  explain  whether  the  girls  of  the  gay 
circles  are  faithful  or  not,  I  shall  tell  you  an  actual 
instance. 

"  It  was  a  time  when  I  was  a  dancing-girl  (pshaku) 
of  only  thirteen  years  old  in  my  present  house, 
and,  among  many  girls  in  this  house,  there  was  a 
young  geisha  named  Kohana,  who  was  in  love  with  a 
young  gentleman,  a  son  of  a  rich  merchant.  One 
day  the  mistress  and  all  girls  of  the  house  went  to 
a  theatre,  but  I,  being  sick  on  the  day,  was  left  at 
home  together  with  an  old  maid-servant.  About 
3  P.M.  the  girl  Kohana  unexpectedly  came  back 
alone,  and  told  me  that,  feeling  a  strong  headache,  she 
could  not  help  to  be  in  the  theatre.  After  less  than 
half  an  hour,  her  lover,  the  young  gentleman,  came  in 
too,  and  confined  himself  in  a  room  upstairs  together 
with  the  girl.  They  seemed  to  be  talking  very 
secretly,  and  after  some  twenty  minutes  suddenly 
I  was  called  by  Kohana.  When  I  went  up  to  their 
room,  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  little  finger  of 
the  young  man's  left  hand  was  wrapped  up  with  a 
piece  of  paper,  which  was  stained  with  bleeding. 
Presenting  a  razor  before  my  face,  the  girl  said  to  me, 
'  I  pray  you  to  cut  my  little  finger.'  At  a  moment 

67 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

I  understood  that  the  man  cut  his  finger  himself,  but 
she  could  not  be  bold  enough  to  cut  that  of  her  own 
herself,  nor  he  could  be  so  cruel  to  do  it  for  his 
sweetheart.  It  is  an  old  custom  in  Japan  that  the 
lovers  cut  their  little  ringers  for  the  sign  of  the  true 
love  between  each  other,  and  the  cutting  is  done  by 
the  way  of  striking  a  razor  put  on  the  finger  with  the 
wooden  pillow  of  the  female.  Applying  the  razor  on 
her  finger,  the  girl  repeated, '  Please  strike  the  razor 
by  the  pillow  with  your  all  might ! '  But  I,  being  a 
little  girl  of  only  thirteen,  was  very  afraid,  and  could 
not  do  such  a  fearful  act.  I  was  trembling,  and  said, 
*  Neisan  (older  girl),  I  can't  do  such  a  dreadful  thing  ! ' 
Kohana  insisted  against  me,  but  I  refused  by  repeat- 
ing, '  Excuse  me,  excuse  me  ! '  She  appeared  angry, 
and  pressed  upon  me,  '  If  you  do  not  obey  to  my 
request,'  said  she, '  I  shall  never  protect  you  in  future 
when  you  are  persecuted  by  the  mistress  or  other 
girls,  and  moreover  never  help  you  on  your  daily 
reviewing ! '  I  fell  into  great  troubles,  and  was 
compelled  to  decide  at  last  to  do  as  I  was  ordered. 
I  took  up  the  pillow,  and,  shutting  my  eyes  struck  it 
on  the  razor.  When  the  blood  gushed  forth  from  her 
white  slender  finger,  she  was  gazing  at  the  bleeding 
finger.  She  smiled,  but  her  face  was  as  pale  as  a  ghost. 
I  was  struck  with  fright,  and  began  to  cry  out.  Her 
lover  turned  away  his  face  and  could  not  see  the 
cruel  scene. 

"  The  cause  of  the  finger-cutting  was  that  the  young 
gentleman  had  to  go  to  America  on  his  business  and 
stay  there  for  two  or  three  years.  To  be  parted  for  a 
long  time  was  very  bitter  for  the  two,  and,  in  order  to 
show  the  unchangeable  love  between  each  other,  the 
girl  proposed  to  perform  the  old  method  of  oath  to 
show  the  firmness  of  mind.  Thus  the  young  lovers 
parted  with  tears ;  and  it  passed  half  a  year,  one  year, 
one  and  a  half  and  two  years,  but  there  came  no 
letter  from  the  man  to  the  girl.  She  was  always 
thinking  of  her  lover  and  waiting  a  good  news  from 

68 


RESTAURANTS   AND   MACHIA1 

him ;  she  had  been  a  very  active  and  light-hearted 
girl,  but  gradually  became  thoughtful  and  gloomy. 

"Sir,  how  do  you  think  if  you  know  that  going 
abroad  of  the  young  gentleman  was  a  lie?  He  did 
not  go  to  America,  but  on  the  contrary  he  married  a 
young  lady !  One  day,  two  years  after  the  tragical 
parting,  Kohana,  the  abandoned  girl,  met  with  her^old 
lover,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  in  the*street  of  Ginza. 
She  stopped,  and  felt  her  heart  about  to  burst  out. 
But  the  cold-blooded  brute  turned  away  its  face  and 
escaped  off.  What  a  pity  was  the  girl  deceived  by 
such  a  fox !  The  honest  girl  cut  the  finger  by  her 
true  heart,  but  the  man  by  his  mere  whim. 

"What  a  good  example  it  is  to  explain  the  fact 
that  a  man  is  fickle  and  faithless.  Of  course  I  do 
not  conclude  at  a  time  that  all  men  are  faithless,  but 
I  can  say  that  the  girls  of  our  circles  are  not  all 
unkind,  but  that  some  are  much  more  faithful  and 
honest  than  ordinary  women.  In  a  word,  a  geisha 
does  not  love  the  man  thoughtlessly,  but  if  once  she 
loved,  she  does  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  even  her  life 
for  the  lover." 


CHAPTER  VII 

PUBLIC  BATH-HOUSES 

WE  are  told  that  one  cause  of  the  downfall  of  Rome 
was  to  be  ascribed  to  its  bath-places,  and  the  bathing 
seems  to  be  neither  the  habit  of  the  German  race  nor 
of  the  Chinese  people,  because  it  is  very  difficult  to 
take  bath  habitually  in  these  cold  continental  countries. 
There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  principle  of  bathing 
between  the  European  and  the  Japanese.  The 
Europeans  are  compelled  to  take  bath  in  order  to 
clean  off  the  filth  excreted  over  their  body,  and  conse- 
quently, if  there  is  no  necessity  to  bath,  they  are  glad 
to  be  without  bathing ;  but  on  the  contrary,  bathing 
of  the  Japanese  is  far  beyond  the  simple  object  of 
cleaning  their  body,  but  it  is  so  evolved  that  they  take 
bath  to  wash  their  life  ! 

The  Europeans  wash  their  hand  before  they  take 
dinner  or  supper,  and  also  comb  their  hair  several 
times  in  a  day ;  but  they  take  bath  or  wash  the 
hair  only  once  a  week.  If  the  Japanese  take  bath 
with  the  object  to  wash  their  body  and  clean  the  dirt, 
there  is  no  need  for  them  to  bath  every  day — nay, 
nonsense  for  them  who  sometimes  take  bath  on  the 
morning  and  evening  of  the  same  day !  Bathing  of 
the  Japanese  may  be  certainly  called  washing  of  the 
life  rather  than  cleaning  of  the  body.  In  other  words, 
bathing  is  the  supreme  pleasure  indispensable  for  the 
Japanese. 

The  public  bath-house  in  Japan  is  the  paradise  fo 
70 


PUBLIC   BATH  -  HOUSES 

labourers,  and  the  real  value  of  bathing  can  be  appre- 
ciated after  their  hard  work  of  the  whole  day.  By 
bathing  they  cannot  only  forget  all  the  fatigue  of  the 
whole  day,  but  also  their  idea  is  entirely  changed 
owing  to  the  effect  of  the  new  and  active  circulation 
of  blood.  At  the  moment  when  they  begin  to  sing  a 
popular  song  cheerfully  in  the  bathroom,  any  of  them 
is  no  more  a  carpenter,  a  cart  coolie,  nor  a  navvy,  but 
now  he  is  a  poet.  An  Englishman  once  said  that 
every  Japanese  is  a  poet,  and  his  saying  is  proved 
absolutely  true  in  the  bath-house.  Bathing  washes 
away  their  discontent,  and  their  disposition  as 
labourers  is  melted  away  in  the  bath-box  ;  they  are 
converted  to  optimists  ;  the  love  for  their  wives  and 
children  are  recovered  or  deepened  in  their  mind. 
Coming  home  from  the  bath-house,  they  drink  by 
attendance  of  wives,  and,  soon  falling  into  sleep, 
become  the  men  of  the  peaceful  paradise. 

The  public  hot  bath-houses  in  the  city  of  Tokyo  are 
as  numerous  as  there  are  a  great  number  of  barber 
shops,  and  almost  all  the  citizens,  except  those  who 
keep  the  private  bathrooms  in  their  own  houses,  go 
to  the  public  bath-houses  every  day,  specially  in  the 
evening  from  8  to  12  P.M.,  after  their  daily  business 
is  finished. 

The  bath-house  is  separated  by  the  wall  into  two 
parts,  the  bathrooms  for  the  male  and  the  female,  to 
each  of  which  its  own  entrance  is  attached.  When 
you  step  in  the  male  entrance,  you  find  a  large  room 
with  the  floor  covered  with  mattings,  and  here  you  are 
to  take  off  your  clothes,  which  is  put  by  yourself  in  a 
basket  provided  for  each  person.  Next  to  the  room, 
and  shut  up  with  glass  doors,  there  is  the  bathing 
room.  Now  you,  stark-naked  and  carrying  a  towel 
and  a  soap,  which  you  brought  from  your  home,  open 
the  glass  door  and  march  in  the  bathroom.  The 
floor  of  the  room  is  smoothly  boarded,  its  whole 
surface  being  made  in  slight  slope  so  as  to  give  an 
easy  flow  of  water,  and  a  large  square  box  is  fixed  at 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

the  bottom  of  the  wooden  wall  on  the  opposite  side  to 
the  glass  doors.  The  box  is  filled  with  the  hot  water, 
into  which  all  persons  are  to  sink  and  warm  their 
body.  The  bathroom  is  large,  and  can  contain  over 
fifty  men  at  once,  while  the  bath-box  is  wide  enough 
for  twenty.  Along  the  wall  bordering  the  female 
room,  there  are  two  fixed  smaller  square  boxes,  one 
filled  with  the  hot  and  the  other  the  cold  water ; 
people  are  not  allowed  to  go  into  these  boxes,  but 
they  are  to  use  the  hot  or  the  cold  water  by  taking 
into  small  tubs  when  they  are  about  to  go  out  of  the 
room  after  cleaned  up  their  body.  The  walls  of  the 
bathroom  are  generally  glazed  with  large  mirrors,  so 
that  they  can  use  them  when  they  wish  to  shave  at 
the  intervals  of  bathing.  Along  one  side  of  the  walls 
you  see  a  pile  of  small  tubs,  which  you  can  take,  and, 
filling  up  with  the  hot  water  in  the  fixed  box,  use  for 
washing  your  body.  The  charge  for  bathing  is  only 
three  sen  per  person,  and  if  you  wish  to  have  your 
back  washed  by  the  bath-boy  (banto),  you  shall  pay 
one  sen  extra.  The  bath  charge  is  called  the  yu  sen 
("cost  for  the  hot  water")  and  the  bath-boy  fee  the 
nagashi  ("  to  wash  "). 

Regulation  for  temperature  of  the  hot  water  in  the 
large  box  is  done  by  cocks  furnished  at  one  corner  of 
the  box,  and  the  bath-takers  in  the  box  can  pour  in 
the  hot  or  cold  water  from  the  cocks  as  they  please. 

Up  to  about  thirty  years  ago  the  construction  of 
the  bathing-room  was  entirely  different  and  much 
more  conservative  than  the  simple  and  open  system 
at  the  present  time.  The  bath-box  was  not  open  as 
at  present,  but  its  approach  was  covered  with  a  large 
board  hanging  down  from  the  ceiling,  so  that  those 
who  were  to  come  into  the  box  were  to  bow  down 
their  body  and  pass  under  the  board.  The  inside  of 
the  board  was  full  of  steam,  a  small  lamp  inserted  in 
the  wooden  wall  throwing  a  dim  light ;  so  it  was  very 
hard  to  see  how  many  men  were  in  the  box.  It  was 
an  etiquette  for  the  bath-takers,  when  they  were  to 

72 


PUBLIC  BATH-HOUSES 

come  into  the  box,  to  say,  "  I  beg  your  pardon  ;  I  am 
a  rustic,"  and  in  winter  they  said,  "  This  is  a  cold 
thing."  These  complimentary  expressions  were  given 
for  fear  that  he  might  touch  the  other's  body,  because 
the  inside  was  dark  and  he  could  not  exactly  see  the 
men  there.  In  these  few  words  we  can  find  the  trace 
of  the  pure  Yedonian  spirit — Yedo  is  the  old  name 
of  Tokyo  in  the  Tokugawa  age,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
Yedo  citizens  is  the  incarnation  of  gallantry  and 
chivalry.  Besides  the  bathroom,  there  was  a  special 
system  for  the  dress-room  too.  The  lattice  doors 
were  shut  at  the  entrance  of  the  bath-house,  and  if 
they  entered  the  door,  in  front  there  was  a  large 
staircase  which  led  to  a  room  upstairs.  On  upstairs 
there  were  two  or  three  large  rooms,  and  here  they 
found  three  or  four  nice  young  girls,  who  supplied 
them  with  a  bath-gown.  Putting  off  their  clothes 
and  taking  the  gown,  they  went  down  the  stairs,  and, 
throwing  off  the  gown  into  a  basket  at  the  down- 
stairs room,  they  went  into  the  bathing-room.  After 
they  finished  bath,  they  put  on  the  gown,  and  coming 
up  again  to  the  upstairs  room,  one  of  the  girls  served 
them  a  cup  of  tea  or  sakurayu  (sakuraya  is  the  hot 
water  in  which  two  or  three  cherry  flowers  salted  down 
are  floating).  What  a  nice  taste  and  fragrance 
the  sakurayu  had,  being  seasoned  with  light  salt 
emitted  out  of  the  flowers  and  flavoured  with  their 
perfume !  Guests  would  take  cakes  which  could  be 
supplied  by  the  girls.  In  these  rooms  chess  and 
checkers  were  furnished,  and  the  customers  to  the 
house  would  be  glad  to  play  games.  Young  men 
were  very  happy  to  gossip  with  the  waitresses,  and 
spent  their  leisure  time  in  the  evening.  These  girls 
in  the  upstairs  of  the  bath-house  seem  to  have  been 
selected  out  of  the  beautiful  maidens,  and  we  often 
found  among  them  such  belles  that  even  geisha  of  the 
age  could  not  match  them  in  their  charm  and  beauty. 
At  present  these  girls  for  tea-serving  in  the  up- 
stairs rooms  of  the  bath-house  are  prohibited.  In 

73 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

common  hot  bath-houses  people  come  to  take  bath 
simply,  yet  every  evening  all  houses  are  crowded 
with  visitors — specially  very  flourishing  after  nine 
or  ten.  Two  or  three  small  tubs  filled  with  hot 
water  are  kept  by  the  side  of  each  visitor,  who 
washes  and  polishes  their  face,  body,  and  limbs, 
and  fragrance  of  soap  fills  the  room,  mixed  in  the 
vapour  floating  up  out  of  the  large  bath  -  box. 
Some  are  washing  their  head  with  the  water  fall- 
ing down  from  the  taps  fixed  high  above  on  the 
wall ;  and  others,  who  are  about  to  get  out  of  the 
room,  pouring  down  the  clean  hot  water  over  their 
body  and  then  wiping  off  the  wet  with  the  towel — 
the  fresh  hot  water  having  been  drawn  in  tubs  from 
the  smaller  hot-water  box.  Three  young  fellows, 
who  seem  to  be  carpenters  by  their  expressions — 
one  of  them  has  his  back  tattooed  with  a  coloured 
picture  of  a  beauty  under  cherry  blossoms  —  are 
now  in  the  midst  of  their  good  humour  in  the 
bath-box,  and  a  song  loudly  and  skilfully  sung  by 
one  of  them  is  followed  by  another  song  alternately 
done  by  the  other  two. 

Noise  and  confusion  in  the  female  room  are  still 
greater.  Most  of  the  women  who  come  to  the 
bath-house  in  night  are  wives  of  merchants  and 
labourers,  and  they  are  generally  accompanied  by 
two  or  three  children.  Wives  living  in  neighbour- 
hood happen  to  meet  in  the  bathroom,  and  their 
mutual  chatters  are  ceaselessly  echoing  here  and 
there,  while  sharp  cries  of  babies  deafen  the  ears 
of  silent  bathers.  Women  use  the  nukabukuro,  as 
well  as  soap,  for  polishing  the  face  and  body  ;  and 
the  nukabukuro  is  a  small  cotton -cloth  bag  filled 
with  rice  bran  (nuka),  which  is  used  after  dipping 
into  the  hot  water.  Young  wives  and  daughters 
who  have  finished  their  polishing  sit  before  the 
mirror  in  the  wall  and  powder  the  face  and  neck. 
Banto  or  bath-boys  are  very  busy  in  the  female 
far  more  than  in  the  male  room,  for  most  of  the 

74 


PUBLIC   BATH  -  HOUSES 

women  need  have  their  back  washed  by  them ;  and 
banto  are  happy  to  be  busy,  as  they  can  earn  one 
sen  per  person  for  their  work. 

The  public  hot  bath  is  opened  at  5  A.M.  every 
day,  and  closed  at  12  P.M.  The  old  dirty  hot  water 
in  the  bath-box  is  thrown  out  every  night  as  soon 
as  the  house  is  shut  up,  and  the  preparation  of 
new  water  for  the  next  morning  is  done  by  the 
bantd)  who  thus  have  to  work  sleepless  by  turns. 

Besides  the  common  hot  bath-houses,  there  is 
a  special  kind  of  bath-houses  where  business  of 
restaurant  is  taken  together  at  the  same  time ;  they 
are  called  the  onsen-rydri,  which  means  the  bath- 
restaurant.  One  summer  evening  you  visit  a  bath- 
restaurant  called  the  Ikaho  near  the  Uyeno  Park, 
around  which  some  three  or  four  famous  onsen-rydri 
are  situated.  At  the  entrance  of  the  Ikaho  there 
stands  a  large  wooden  gate  of  the  pure  Japanese 
style,  and  the  courtyard  of  some  ten  yards  long 
leads  from  the  gate  to  the  door  of  the  house.  A 
large  two  -  storied  building  is  divided  into  many 
rooms,  to  one  of  which  you  are  shown  by  one  of 
the  waiting  -  maids.  First  of  all  she  brings  a  bath- 
gown  (yukata)  and  asks  you  to  take  bath  if  you 
please.  A  part  of  downstairs  of  the  building  is 
made  a  large  bathroom,  furnished  with  the  dress- 
room  next  to  it.  The  bath-box  is  filled  with  the 
hot  water  similar  to  the  mineral  hot  spring  of 
Mount  Ikoho  in  the  Kodzuke  Province,  made  by 
mixing  the  flowers  fetched  from  the  original  spring. 
A  banto  serves  tubs  of  pure  hot  water,  and  washes 
your  back  with  soap.  After  you  get  out  of  the 
room  and  put  on  the  bath-gown,  you  come  to  the 
toilet-room  connected  with  the  dress-room  and  give 
a  touch  to  your  hair.  Coming  back  to  your  room, 
you  sit  down  on  the  zabuton  and  try  to  smoke. 
Just  then  the  waitress  appears  again,  and  prepares 
a  table  of  dishes  and  sake.  The  views  from  the 
upstairs  room  is  very  fine ;  fireflies  are  going  to 

75 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

and  fro  over  the  meeds  on  the  bank  of  a  small 
stream,  the  twinkling  lights  of  street  lamps  can 
be  seen  through  the  dark  wood  of  the  park.  At 
times  noises  of  trains  are  heard  like  distant  thunder, 
and  they  are  the  trains  of  the  North-Eastern  line, 
which  runs  a  long  distance  of  four  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  miles  between  Uyeno  and  Aomori.  Cool  breezes, 
which  come  through  the  green  leaves  of  the  wood, 
and  after  touching  the  ripples  in  the  stream,  are 
constantly  stroking  your  face  and  breast.  In  a 
room  beyond  the  courtyard  sound  of  samisen  and 
voice  of  singing  are  heard,  and  your  maid  tells 
you  that  three  beautiful  geisha  from  the  Yanagibashi 
circle  are  attending  the  guests  of  that  room.  In 
another  room  there  is  an  old  gentleman,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife  and  children,  and  taking  supper 
sitting  in  a  merry  circle ;  in  the  hall  downstairs 
a  dinner-party  of  young  students  seems  to  be  at 
the  height  of  pleasure.  Through  all  seasons  citizens 
of  every  rank  come  to  the  bath  -  restaurants,  and 
are  fond  of  making  merry  after  washing  away  the 
dirt  of  daytime.  Some  of  these  bath  -  restaurants 
are  taking  business  of  hotel  at  the  same  time.  If 
you  have  no  leisure  to  visit  a  distant  local  quarter 
of  the  mineral  spring,  you  may  be  satisfied  to  stay 
some  two  or  three  days  in  one  of  these  bath-hotels. 
The  most  popular  bath-restaurants  in  Tokyo  are 
Ikaho,  Isobe,  Shiobara,  and  Kusatusu  —  all  these 
names  being  derived  from  the  appellations  given 
upon  the  original  springs  in  local  quarters. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SHIMBASHI  STATION  TO  SHINAGAWA 

AROUND  the  city  of  Tokyo  there  are  the  five  terminus 
stations — the  Shimbashi,  the  Manseibashi,  the  Uyeno, 
the  Ryogoku,  and  the  Asakusa;  but  as  the  great 
central  station  is  now  in  course  of  construction  and 
will  be  completed  in  the  next  year  (1914),  the  lines 
from  these  five  stations  will  be  concentrated  into  the 
new  station.  Among  these  five  stations  at  present, 
the  Shimbashi,  which  is  the  starting-point  for  the 
Tokaido  line,  is  always  crowded  by  passengers,  and 
specially  those  who  are  going  to  travel  to  Osaka, 
Kobe,  or  Shimonoseki  of  the  Sanyo  line,  take  the 
express  train  in  night.  It  is  about  seven  in  the  even- 
ing when  you  make  appearance  in  the  station  to  see 
ts  general  aspect.  By  one  side  of  the  stone  steps 
leading  to  the  front  entrance  there  stand  three 
automatic  telephone  boxes,  each  of  which  is  occupied, 
one  by  a  girl  and  the  other  two  by  gentlemen.  Close 
by  one  of  the  telephone  boxes  a  money-changer  box 
is  found,  and  an  old  woman  in  the  box  busy  on  her 
business  of  exchange.  Ascending  the  stone  steps, 
you  pass  the  entrance  and  fall  into  the  whirlpool  of 
people.  Pushing  through  the  throngs,  you  approach 
the  first-  and  second-class  waiting-room,  where  you 
find  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  travelling  costume,  some 
leaning  on  the  sofa  and  reading  papers,  some  talking 
with  friends  standing  by  the  large  table  at  the  centre, 
magazines  and  papers  being  furnished  on  the  table  by 
the  station  master.  Porters  of  red  caps  are  carrying 

77 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

bags  and  trunks  for  the  train.  In  the  lady's  waiting- 
room,  on  the  opposite  side,  you  can  see  some  six  or 
seven  young  and  old  ladies  of  the  peer's  rank,  attended 
by  their  chambermaids.  Then  you  come  to  the  large 
waiting-room  for  the  third-class  passengers  ;  men  and 
women  who  constantly  come  in  and  out  of  the  room 
are  about  to  shock  with  you,  and  their  chatters  and 
idle  talks  with  loud  voice  are  raising  a  confused  noise 
within  the  room.  Most  of  people  assembled  in  this 
room  are  rustics  ;  some  dangle  a  cotton  bag  from  their 
neck,  and  some  carry  baggages  on  the  shoulder.  Near 
the  door  of  the  room  there  is  standing  a  policeman,  to 
whom  an  old  man  shows  his  bald  head,  by  taking  off 
the  old  ruffled  soft  hat,  and,  after  bowing  down,  politely 
enquires  where  to  buy  his  ticket.  There  are  two  large 
booking  offices  fronting  each  other  at  the  centre  of  the 
station  ;  in  one  of  them  there  are  opened  the  windows 
for  the  first-  and  second-class  and  platform  tickets, 
and  in  the  other  those  for  the  third-class  only.  These 
windows  being  classified  according  to  the  kind  of 
ticket  for  short  and  long  distance  in  the  Tokaido 
line,  and  for  the  Tanyo,  the  Tan-in  and  the  Kyushu 
lines — all  tickets  are  sold  by  young  female  clerks. 
Coming  round  into  the  spacious  part  of  the  station 
which  leads  to  the  wickets,  newsboys  are  crying  for 
the  evening  press,  and  at  one  corner  of  the  place 
you  find  a  nicely-decorated  shop  of  miscellaneous 
articles — at  the  shop  passengers  buy  cigars,  matches, 
magazines,  handkerchiefs,  and  the  like.  On  the  wall, 
near  the  shop,  large  square  looking-glasses,  with 
advertisement  pictures  on  their  broad  frames,  serve 
for  dandies  to  touch  on  the  hair  or  the  tie,  or  on 
arranging  dresses.  The  western  side  of  the  part  is 
made  the  way  out  of  the  station,  and  along  the  wide 
frontage  here  rikisha,  carriages,  and  motor-cars  are 
prepared  in  rows  and  waiting  for  guests.  At  one  side 
of  the  frontage  you  find  a  box  of  rikisha  tickets,  and, 
if  any  one  buys  a  ticket  at  the  box  after  appointing 
his  destination,  he  can  take  a  rikisha  to  any  quarter 

78 


THE   SHIMBASHI   STATION 

of  the  city  without  troubles  to  fix  the  fare  himself 
directly  with  the  rtkisha-mzn..  You  come  back  again 
near  the  first-class  waiting-room,  and,  along  the  wall 
of  its  entrance,  there  can  be  seen  a  large  bending 
staircase ;  now  stepping  it  up,  you  arrive  at  the  door 
of  a  restaurant. 

On  entering  the  door  there  is  a  bar,  and  farther 
inside  there  are  two  large  rooms,  in  each  of  which  a 
number  of  tables  are  furnished.  In  the  restaurant 
both  the  Japanese  and  European  dishes  can  be  served. 
In  the  bar  six  young  clerks  of  a  firm  make  a  circle 
round  a  table,  and  are  taking  beer,  whisky,  or  sake 
according  to  choice  of  each.  They  seem  to  have 
happened  to  meet  here  on  their  way  back  from 
Yokohama  and  other  places  after  finished  their 
business,  and  now,  being  much  intoxicated,  are 
discussing  for  an  expedition  to  a  certain  gay  circle. 
You  take  a  seat  by  a  table  near  these  young  fellows, 
and,  giving  order  to  the  waiter  to  bring  a  glass  of 
beer,  listen  what  they  speak.  "  I  have  yen  1 5  here 
in  my  pocket,"  says  the  oldest  one  among  them,  some 
twenty-five  years  old,  "and  I  can  spend  yen  IO  this 
night.  How  much  can  you  all  contribute  from  your 
purse?"  After  some  minutes  of  conference  among 
the  rest,  the  youngest  one  replies,  "  We  all  can  make 
yen  20,  and,  adding  your  yen  10  into  ours,  the  war 
fund  amounts  to  thirty."  "That  will  do,"  says  the 
first  one ;  "  but  there  is  an  important  matter  which 
you  all  must  not  forget,  and  that  is  we  should  go 
home  before  twelve  this  night,  nobody  shall  stay 
till  later  than  midnight.  Now  let  us  start  at  once, 
the  earlier  the  better."  "  Then  shall  we  go  to  Shina- 
gawa  by  train  again?"  asks  another  one.  "Yes,  it 
is  nearest  to  here,"  echoes  the  ringleader ;  "  we  must 
save  time."  You  determine  your  mind  to  follow  them 
to  Shinagawa,  the  south  end  of  the  city,  where  a 
prostitute  quarter  is  established.  In  the  meantime, 
while  they  are  still  emptying  the  glasses,  you  leave 
your  seat  and  try  to  look  into  the  inner  rooms.  There 

79 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

you  find  some  four  or  five  companies  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  the  European  and  the  Japanese,  taking 
drinks  and  some  dishes ;  these  guests  are  all  for  the 
next  train,  and  have  come  to  take  refreshment,  utilis- 
ing a  few  minutes  before  the  time. 

Following  the  six  clerks,  you  descend  the  stairs, 
and,  when  you  are  going  to  approach  the  ticket 
window  across  the  crowds  of  people  standing  in 
rows,  you  are  suddenly  interrupted  by  a  policeman. 
Being  bewildered  by  the  unexpected  obstruction,  you 
are  told  by  a  gentleman  by  your  side  that  H.I.H. 

Princess    K has   come   back   by  the   train  just 

arrived.  In  a  few  minutes  the  princess,  guided  by 
the  stationmaster,  and  followed  by  the  steward  and 
chambermaids,  passes  through  the  way  between  the 
rows  of  loyal  citizens,  who  all  take  off  the  hats  and 
bow  down  the  head.  She  is  dressed  in  a  pure 
Japanese  costume,  and,  getting  in  the  carriage  wait- 
ing at  the  front  entrance,  goes  away  for  her  palace. 

Having  missed  your  games  now  by  this  sudden 
hindrance,  you  look  for  them  among  the  throngs, 
but  could  not  find  them.  You  buy  a  ticket  and 
hasten  into  the  platform.  Looking  into  each  box  of 
the  train  through  the  window,  at  last  you  could  dis- 
cover the  band  of  expeditionists,  who  are  laughing 
and  talking  loudly.  You  get  into  the  same  box  and 
take  a  seat  at  the  opposite  corner ;  at  this  moment 
your  watch  shows  just  nine.  A  flute  of  the  station- 
master  and  a  steam  whistle  at  the  engine — the  train 
begins  to  run  for  the  Tokaido.  Ten  minutes  and  the 
train  arrived  at  the  Shinagawa  Station,  the  next 
one  to  the  Shimbashi  Station.  Getting  down  the 
train  quickly,  you  follow  them  with  strict  care  never 
to  miss  them  again.  It  is  less  than  half  a  mile  from 
the  station  to  the  Shinagawa  Street.  They  come  to 
a  large  brothel  called  the  Shimasaki-ro,  and  enter  its 
door  at  once.  Now  you  give  them  up  and  begin  to 
take  a  walk  through  the  street  to  see  the  general 
state  of  the  quarter. 

80 


THE  SHIMBASHI  STATION 

Shinagawa  is  the  southernmost  part  of  the  city  of 
Tokyo ;  in  the  period  of  the  Tokugawa  government 
a  barrier  was  established  at  the  north  end  of  the 
road,  and  those  who  come  from  the  west  were  not 
allowed  without  the  passport  to  pass  the  gate  of  the 
barrier,  the  throat  of  the  city  of  Yedo.  The  brothels 
of  Shinagawa  were  very  flourishing  by  travellers  in 
the  age  of  Yedo,  and  at  present  a  little  more  than  one 
hundred  houses  are  still  on  the  both  sides  of  the 
street,  those  on  the  eastern  side  governing  the 
magnificent  views  of  the  Bay  of  Shinagawa.  The 
front  view  of  these  houses  here  are  different  from  that 
of  those  at  Yoshiwara ;  the  so-called  showrooms  are 
not  opened  for  the  street,  but  if  you  want  to  see  the 
girls,  you  have  to  step  in  the  entrance  of  the  house, 
and  there  can  have  a  sufficient  look  upon  them.  In 
this  street  a  great  number  of  restaurants  and  smaller 
eating  -  houses  open  their  shops  mingled  among 
brothels.  Just  below  a  large  brothel  building  you 
find  a  small  eating-house,  at  the  entrance  of  which  a 
long  square  paper  lantern  hangs,  and  four  large 
Japanese  characters,  Ha-ma-na-be,  are  written  on  the 
lantern's  paper — the  hamanabe  is  the  name  of  a  dish 
made  of  clam-flesh  boiled  in  a  pan.  You  enter  the 
house,  and,  taking  a  seat  on  a  zabuton,  order  to  bring 
a  bottle  of  sake  and  a  pan  of  hamanabe.  A  little 
maid-servant  brings  a  small  square  fire-box,  on  which 
a  little  pan  filled  with  clam-flesh  is  put,  the  dish 
being  arranged  so  as  to  be  gradually  cooked  on  the 
fire-box.  At  one  part  of  the  room  there  is  a  group 
of  stalwart  fishermen,  who  live  in  the  fishing-village 
along  the  Shinagawa  Bay ;  they  guzzle  sake  and 
devour  dishes  of  clam  and  others.  "  It  was  about  the 
middle  of  last  night,"  groans  out  one  of  them,  with 
the  eyes  like  an  eagle  upon  the  copper-coloured  face, 
"when  we  discovered  and  picked  up  the  drowning 
young  couple  into  our  boat.  It  was  very  dark,  the 
sky  being  covered  with  dense  clouds,  and  the  waves 
were  very  high,  not  easy  to  pull  the  boat  as  we  please." 

81  F 


THE   NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

"  How  it  happened  to  you  to  rescue  them  in  such  a 
dark  night?"  asks  a  young  fisherman  in  earnest;  "and 
were  they  both  still  alive  when  you  found  them?" 
"  No,  the  man  was  almost  breathless  and  the  girl 
already  fainted.  It  was  on  our  way  back  from  the 
fishery  last  night  when  one  of  our  companions  dis- 
covered a  black  mass  floating  upon  the  waves,  and, 
approaching  the  boat  to  it,  we  recognised  the  form 
of  two  human  bodies  tightly  bound  each  other.  At 
once  I  ordered  to  take  them  up  into  the  boat,  and 
no  sooner  the  two  bodies  were  laid  down  on  board, 
than  we  hastened  for  the  shore  with  full  speed.  On 
the  shore  we  burnt  straw  and  warmed  them  by  the 
fire  for  some  ten  minutes,  when  the  two  could 
recover  their  breath,  and  at  the  same  time  threw  up 
a  quantity  of  water  from  the  mouth.  They  were 
taken  to  the  police-station,  and  this  morning  I  heard 
that  enquiries  were  made  upon  them  by  a  constable. 
Both  they  are  young,  and  the  girl  very  beautiful." 
"  And  have  you  been  told  of  details  why  they  did 
such  an  indiscreet  conduct  ?  "  enquires  another  one, 
holding  a  cup  of  sake  in  his  left  hand,  and  putting 
the  chopsticks  in  his  right  hand  into  the  boiling  pan 
of  hamaguri  (clam  flesh).  "Yes,  before  they  were 
sent  to  the  police-station,"  answers  the  first  one,  "  I 
was  told  by  the  young  man  as  follows  : — 

"  The  young  couple  were  the  natives  of  the  town 
Uraga,  in  the  Saitama  Prefecture,  some  twelve  miles 
north  to  Tokyo.  The  man  is  twenty-five  years  old, 
and  betrothed  to  the  girl,  who  is  eighteen  years  old. 
The  father  of  the  girl,  a  merchant  of  dry  goods,  was 
unfortunate  to  ruin  lately  by  his  miscarriage  on 
business,  and  compelled  to  make  a  certain  amount 
of  money  by  sending  away  his  daughter  to  a  geisha 
house  in  Tokyo.  Having  been  told  of  the  father's 
intention,  the  girl  was  much  surprised,  and  in  the 
night  ran  to  her  future  husband,  who  was  a  clerk  of 
a  bank  in  the  town  and  living  in  a  short  distance  from 
her  house.  After  consultation  throughout  the  night, 

82 


THE   SHIMBASHI   STATION 

the  two  eloped  for  Tokyo  by  the  first  train  of  the  next 
morning,  but  they  were  prepared  with  a  small  sum  of 
money  in  their  pocket.  They  took  refuge  in  an  inn 
near  Uyeno  Park,  and  were  staying  there  for  about  a 
week.  The  money  was  spent  up  soon,  and  could  find 
no  means  to  get  work  as  they  had  no  acquaintances 
in  the  city.  At  last  they  resolved  to  die  together, 
and,  after  wandering  away  to  Shinagawa  last  night, 
attempted  to  drown  themselves  in  the  bay."  All 
fishermen  are  silently  listening,  some  sympathised 
with  the  unfortunate  couple,  and  the  others  taking 
pity  on  their  foolish  conduct. 

After  paying  the  bill,  you  come  out  of  the  house. 
It  is  now  eleven  o'clock,  and  you  begin  to  stroll 
down  the  street  to  the  north  farther.  Passing  a 
stone  bridge,  under  which  the  Tokaido  railways 
run,  you  arrive  at  the  south  extreme  of  the  electric 
tram  of  the  city,  and  see  multitude  of  people  pouring 
in  and  out  of  the  cars,  halting  here.  You  do  not 
take  the  tram,  and  walk  farther  on  along  the  pave- 
ment. After  twenty  minutes  you  arrive  at  the 
corner  of  the  entrance  road  to  the  Sengakuji,  the 
very  famous  temple  for  the  graves  of  the  "Forty- 
seven  Ronins,"  who  revenged  for  their  lord,  Naganori 
Asano,  and  all  committed  suicide  (harakiri^  cutting 
the  abdomen)  at  once,  in  the  feudal  age  of  the 
Tokugawa  Government  two  hundred  years  ago,  and 
try  to  visit  the  tombs  in  night.  The  road  leading 
to  the  Temple  Gate  is  very  dark,  while  by  day  the 
shops  of  souvenir  articles  for  the  loyal  retainers 
are  opened  in  rows  on  its  both  sides  and  crowded 
by  the  visitors.  Entering  the  gate,  you  turn  to  the 
left  and  come  to  the  well  called  the  Kubi  arai  Ido 
(the  Well  washing  the  Head),  which  it  is  said  was 
used  by  the  ronins  to  wash  the  head  of  Yoshihide 
Kira,  the  enemy  of  their  lord,  Naganori.  Near  the 
well  there  stands  a  large  stone  monument  for  Rihei 
Amanoya,  a  chivalrous  merchant  who  made  and 
supplied  all  arms  and  costumes  necessary  for  the 

83 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

invasion  of  the  loyal  retainers  of  Asano.  Advancing 
farther  on  the  dark  narrow  lane  under  the  thick 
wood,  you  reach  a  black  wooden  gate  of  the  grave- 
yard, and  the  dense  smoke  of  the  burning  sticks 
of  incense  offered  by  the  visitors  in  daytime  can 
be  seen  curling  up  in  the  air.  The  gate  being  locked 
up  in  night,  you  cannot  enter  the  graveyard,  but 
over  the  fence  and  through  the  dark  you  can  observe 
the  tombstones  of  the  forty-seven  heroes,  standing  in 
square  rows  surrounding  the  two  large  tombs  of 
their  lord,  Naganori  Asano,  and  his  wife.  After  wor- 
shipping these  monuments  of  the  Japanese  bushido, 
you  come  round  towards  the  front  of  the  temple,  the 
doors  of  which  are  now  shut  up,  and  the  glimmering 
lights  in  the  hall  of  the  main  building  can  be  hardly 
seen  through  the  opening  of  doors.  The  sound  of 
wind  blowing  over  the  roof  of  the  large  temple 
and  through  the  wood  behind  the  building  make 
you  feel  horrible ;  at  this  moment  a  large  dog 
appears  from  under  the  temple  floor  and  loudly 
barks  at  you.  You  note  a  round  lump  on  the 
ground  just  under  the  eaves  of  the  building, 
and  close  by  your  feet  begins  to  move  suddenly 
and  slowly,  and  gazing  at  it,  find  it  is  a  beggar, 
covering  his  body  with  an  old  straw  matting,  and 
perhaps  awakened  from  sleep  by  barking  of  the 
dog.  You  get  out  of  the  gate  and  come  back 
again  into  the  street.  It  is  now  near  twelve,  and 
passers  in  the  street  are  rare.  You  catch  a  tram 
just  come  from  Shinagawa,  and  go  home  peacefully. 


CHAPTER   IX 

AMATEUR  WRESTLING  IN  SUMMER  EVENING 

IN  the  hot  summer  evening,  when  the  burning  sun 
sets  below  the  horizontal  line  of  the  west,  the  Shiroto- 
Zumo,  or  Amateur  Wrestling,  takes  place  at  various 
parts  of  the  city.  If  it  approaches  six  in  the  evening, 
happy  -  go  -  lucky  old  men,  who  are  glad  to  take 
troubles  for  young  men,  appear  to  a  vacant  land  in 
their  neighbourhood,  and  construct  a  temporary 
wrestling-ring  with  materials  which  consist  of  bamboo 
rods,  timbers,  and  boards  collected  from  the  inhabi- 
tants in  the  quarter ;  on  the  four  large  pillars  called 
the  Shihon-Bashira,  at  the  four  corners  of  the  ring,  old 
earthen  teapots  filled  with  the  oil  and  with  the 
burning  fire  at  their  beaks,  are  hanging  in  place  of 
lamps.  Around  the  ring  multitude  of  naked  amateur 
wrestlers  and  spectators  are  crowded,  a  part  of  them 
sitting  down  on  the  straw  mats  stretched  on  the 
ground,  and  the  rest  standing  behind  them.  Some  of 
the  wrestlers  are  fat  and  stout,  but  most  of  them  pale 
and  slender — all  these  so-called  wrestlers  being  sons 
of  merchants,  school  boys,  or  young  labourers  living 
in  the  streets  near  by.  On  the  ring  you  would  find 
two  slender  wrestlers,  severely,  but  funny  in  some 
points,  fighting  each  other,  and  an  umpire  called  the 
gvdji  is  inspecting  the  match,  standing  at  the  right  or 
left  side  of  the  fighters. 

The  wrestling  of  amateurs  has  lately  become  very 
popular,  not  only  in  the  city  of  Tokyo,  but  also 

85 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

throughout  all  parts  of  Japan.  During  summer 
every  year  young  men  are  very  fond  of  competing 
their  strength,  and  wherever  you  visit  a  town,  a 
village,  or  a  harbour,  you  will  find  the  wrestling 
youths,  some  of  whom  have  such  an  excellent 
physical  make  that  even  the  professional  wrestlers  of 
the  second  or  third  rank  are  surpassed  by  their 
appearance. 

To  enumerate  the  most  influential  circles  of 
amateur  wrestlers  in  Tokyo  and  its  vicinity  at  present, 
the  first  and  oldest  one  is  the  Hachiman-ko^  consisting 
of  more  than  fifty  warriors  in  the  suburbs  of  Minami 
Adachi  and  Minami  Katsushika,  and  the  champion 
wrestler  of  them  is  called  Matsuno-oto.  The  next 
circle  is  the  Yotsume-ko,  the  alliance  of  heroes  in 
the  Honjo  and  Fukagawa  wards,  the  man  called 
Kozakura  taking  charge  of  the  director  of  the  associa- 
tion and  its  members,  amounting  to  over  eighty. 
The  most  famous  and  popular  champion  of  the 
Yotsumeko  is  a  man  named  Hamachidori ;  he  is  the 
proprietor  of  the  Fukagawa  Fish  Nursery,  and, 
though  he  is  an  amateur,  his  body  weighs  more  than 
200  lb.,  and  his  art  on  wrestling  is  so  well  trained 
that  even  the  professionals  are  often  defeated  by  him. 
Besides  him,  Kinugawa  and  Miyakomatsu,  who 
were  once  the  professional  wrestlers  of  the  second 
rank,  are  joined  in  the  circle,  and  in  the  tournament 
with  another  circle  the  Yotsumeko  has  always  been 
victorious.  In  the  quarter  of  Mukojima  there  is 
another  body  called  the  Futabakai  in  which  Raiden, 
a  mighty  man  of  the  Tanioka  Dye  Works,  occupies 
the  position  of  the  champion  wrestler.  A  band  in  the 
Asakusa  Ward  is  very  powerful  under  the  leadership 
of  the  two  champions  Dangoyama  and  Ryogoku,  and 
patronised  by  Ichinao,  the  restaurant  in  Asakusa 
Park  ;  Ryogoku  is  the  ex-professional  who  was  once 
called  Manazuru  as  a  disciple  of  the  old  great  wrestler 
Oguruma,  and  the  other  two  popular  members, 
Midorigawa  and  Asamayama,  are  the  graduates  of 

86 


AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

the  Higher  Industrial  College.  Besides  those  above 
mentioned,  there  are  still  numerous  bodies  of  amateur 
wrestlers,  and  among  the  rest  the  most  interesting 
one  is  the  body  whose  members  consist  of  men  of 
letters  under  leadership  of  Sui-in  Emi,  a  novelist. 
Schools  in  Tokyo  have  their  own  wrestling  parties ; 
the  Tengu  Club  of  the  Waseda  College  is  very  famous, 
and  its  members  are  trained  by  Isenohama,  a 
champion  among  the  professional  wrestlers,  who  is 
engaged  as  the  teacher  of  the  art  for  students ;  the 
Keio  and  the  Meiji  College  employ  the  professionals, 
too,  as  their  leaders,  and  we  are  told  that  a  son  of 
Doctor  Tatsuno,  the  student  of  the  First  Higher 
College,  is  the  most  accomplished  wrestler  among  all 
students  of  the  College. 

Before  entering  the  details  of  the  Amateur 
Wrestling  in  summer  evening,  a  short  story  on  the 
Professional  Wrestling  at  present  will  be  given  : — 

The  art  of  wrestling  in  Japan  has  its  origin  in  the 
match  between  the  two  men  Taima  and  Nomi  in 
23  B.C.,  and  is  followed  down  to  the  present.  By  the 
two  great  experts  Takasago  and  Ikadzuchi,  the  art 
became  most  flourishing  near  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  is  still  recommended  by  all  the  Japanese 
as  the  national  and  heroic  accomplishment.  Lately 
a  gigantic  iron  building  called  the  Kokugikan  (the 
National  Art  Hall)  has  been  constructed  at  Ryogoku, 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  River  Sumida,  as  the  per- 
manent establishment  for  the  wrestling  performance, 
and  its  large  dome  can  be  seen  from  every  part  of  the 
city.  Indeed,  the  wrestling  is  the  king  of  all  per- 
formances for  pleasure  in  Tokyo,  and  the  flower  of  all 
arts  carried  on  in  the  great  city. 

In  the  street  Motomachi  of  the  Honjo  Ward,  there 
is  the  Great  Wrestling  Association  (Ozumo  Kyd-kai), 
which  is  the  central  office  for  the  wrestling  business 
in  Tokyo,  and  in  the  office  rooms  members  of  the 
Association  are  always  busy  on  taking  business.  The 
representatives  of  the  Association  are  called  the 

87 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

Toshiyori  (elders),  who  are  veterans,  powerful  and 
meritorious,  among  their  society.  In  the  feudal  age 
the  number  of  the  Toshiyori  were  limited  to  thirty-six, 
in  accordance  with  the  number  of  gates  of  the  Yedo 
Castle,  but  at  present  they  are  increased  to  eighty- 
eight.  The  most  powerful  among  these  elders  are 
called  Tarishimari  (directors),  the  next  Rensayaku 
(inspectors),  and  all  business  of  the  Association  is 
classified  and  taken  among  all  these  Toshiyori. 

The  great  wrestling  performance  in  the  Kokugi- 
kan  is  held  only  twice  in  a  year,  in  January  and 
May,  and  the  period  for  one  performance  is  limited 
to  ten  days.  By  the  result  of  these  two  short  but 
important  performances,  the  position  and  salary  of 
all  wrestlers  are  promoted  and  increased,  and  during 
the  rest  of  the  year,  except  January  and  May,  the 
wrestlers  go  out  for  travels  to  the  eastern  or  western 
provinces,  where  they  are  to  show  their  performances 
to  the  country  people,  and  at  the  same  time  to  train 
their  body  and  art  in  preparation  for  the  formal  com- 
petition at  the  Kokugikan  in  the  next  year.  The 
formal  performance  at  the  National  Art  Hall  of  Tokyo 
is  called  the  Hombasho  Zumo  (Wrestling  at  the  Head- 
quarters), and  those  performed  at  other  quarters  of  the 
city  and  local  provinces  the  Hana  Zumo  (Flower  or 
Prize  -  wrestling).  While  the  wrestlers  are  out  for 
prize  -  wrestlings,  the  Kokugikan  is  utilised  for 
exhibitions  of  various  performances  or  shows,  such 
as  a  circus-riding,  chrysanthemum  flowers,  bazaars, 
etc.,  etc. 

Around  the  great  Hall  there  are  a  number  of  the 
guide-houses  called  the  Sumo-jaya  (Tea-house  for 
wrestling),  just  equal  to  those  to  the  theatre  called 
the  Shibai-jaya  (Tea-house  for  the  theatre).  Per- 
formances of  theatres  being  carried  on  through  the 
year,  their  guide-houses  can  take  their  business  with- 
out pauses  ;  but  as  the  great  wrestlings  are  performed 
only  twice  a  year  and  for  ten  days  a  period,  how  can 
the  guide-houses  to  the  wrestling  manage  to  lead 

88 


AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

their  life  for  a  year  ?  Of  course  the  fees  for  guidance 
and  arrangement  of  seats  or  profits  by  supplying  food 
and  drinks  are  trifling,  but  the  so-called  chadai  (tea- 
money  or  tips)  given  by  customers  amounts  to  a 
tremendous  sum.  We  are  told  that  the  smallest 
sum  of  the  tip  given  by  a  customer  is  no  less  than 
yen  20  at  a  time,  and  that  ladies  and  gentlemen  are 
not  rare  that  leave  the  gift  of  yen  50,  100,  or  200 
on  the  counter  of  their  intimate  guide-houses. 

At  the  centre  of  the  Hall  there  is  the  wrestling-ring, 
or  arena,  called  the  Dohyo,  which  is  made  of  eighty- 
two  sand-bags  most  firmly  heaped  up  on  the  ground, 
and  the  four  strong  pillars  called  the  Shihon  Bashira 
are  erected  on  the  four  corners  of  the  ring,  all 
wrapped  up  with  coloured  cloths ;  the  east  pillar, 
twined  with  the  blue  cloth,  symbolises  spring ;  the 
west,  with  the  white,  autumn  ;  the  south,  with  the  red, 
summer  ;  and  the  north,  with  the  black,  winter.  Near 
the  foot  of  each  pillar  a  bale  of  salt  and  a  large  tub 
of  water  are  furnished,  these  to  be  used  by  the  com- 
batants for  purifying  their  mouth  and  body  before 
they  begin  to  fight  when  they  come  upon  the  arena. 

The  programme  for  the  Grand  Wrestling  Tourna- 
ment at  the  Kokugikan  is  published  by  the  Associa- 
tion on  the  day  previous  to  the  first  day  of  the 
performance  in  January  or  May  each  year,  and  being 
fixed  after  the  conference  among  the  directors,  the 
inspectors,  and  other  Toshiyori^  it  is  kept  very  secret 
to  all  wrestlers  up  to  the  date  when  it  is  published. 
Wrestlers  who  have  come  back  from  their  tour 
receive  the  programmes  from  the  Association  and 
distribute  them  to  their  patrons  and  customers.  As 
soon  as  the  performance  of  each  day  is  closed,  the 
report  of  matches  is  sold  at  the  entrance  of  the  Hall, 
and  at  the  same  time  men  are  running  to  sell  the 
reports  through  all  streets  of  the  city,  loudly  crying, 
"  Ozumo-Shobu-zuke^  Ozumo  Shobu-zuke\ "  (Report  for 
the  Grand  Wrestling  Tournament!),  just  as  news- 
boys running  for  extra  news. 


THE  N1GHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

As  there  are  several  ranks  of  wrestlers,  classified 
according  to  their  strength  and  skill,  so  are  there  the 
ranks  for  the  umpires  of  wrestling.  When  an  umpire 
(Gydji)  comes  on  the  arena  to  take  his  duty,  he 
carries  a  wooden  fan  named  the  Gunbai  Uchiwa 
(war-fan)  in  his  hand,  and  uses  it  to  appoint  the 
victor  when  the  match  is  settled.  To  the  handle  of 
a  fan  a  tuft  of  silk  thread  is  attached,  and  the  ranks 
of  the  umpire  are  distinguished  by  the  colour  of  the 
tuft :  the  umpire  of  the  highest  rank  is  called  the 
Tategydji  and  uses  the  crimson  tuft,  the  next,  the 
mixed  one  of  red  and  white,  the  third,  that  of  blue 
and  white,  and  so  on.  The  training  of  the  young 
umpires  is  done  likewise  by  their  elders  during  the 
time  when  wrestlers  train  themselves  in  the  per- 
formances during  the  travels  to  localities. 

There  is  another  kind  of  men  called  the  Yobidashi 
(crier)  who  do  not  belong  neither  to  wrestlers  nor 
umpires,  and  their  business  is  to  cry  out  the  names  of 
wrestlers  who  are  to  come  up  and  combat  on  the 
ring.  The  voice  of  the  Yobidashi  is  so  strong  and 
clear  that  none  of  people  fails  to  hear  him  however 
distant  a  corner  of  the  Hall  they  may  be  at.  Besides 
calling  out  the  wrestlers'  names,  they  have  sundry 
works  to  do  in  the  Hall. 

When  the  season  of  the  great  tournament  approaches 
you  will  find  a  very  tall  tower  temporarily  built  up 
near  the  Kokugikan.  It  is  the  drum  tower,  and  the 
drum  on  the  tower  is  called  the  Yagura  Daiko ;  the 
height  of  the  tower  is  fixed  to  57  feet,  the  extent  at 
its  bottom  being  9  feet  square,  and  the  top,  where  the 
drum  is  set,  6  feet  square,  all  being  built  with  long, 
strong  logs  only.  During  the  period  of  the 
performance,  every  morning,  very  early,  before  dawn, 
each  of  the  Yobidashi  appears  by  turns  on  the  top  of 
the  tower  and  beats  the  drum  for  about  one  hour, 
notifying  the  citizens  of  the  wrestling  performance  of 
the  day.  The  drum-beating  on  the  high  tower  is  an 
old  habit  of  the  wrestling  formalities. 

90 


AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

All  wrestlers  are  divided  into  two  parties,  the  east 
and  the  west,  and  the  matches  are  performed  between 
these  two  parties,  a  pair  of  wrestlers  for  a  match  being 
called  upon  the  arena  in  turn  from  each  party. 
When  the  Honbasho  Zumo,  or  Headquarters  Wrest- 
ling, at  the  Kokugikan  begins,  the  Yobidashi  (criers) 
go  round  to  awake  wrestlers  in  their  rooms  by  strik- 
ing wooden  clappers  (Hydskigi)  on  very  early 
morning  before  dawn  at  3  A.M. ;  and,  when  the  matches 
between  those  of  the  lowest  rank  are  to  be  carried  on, 
the  Kensayaku  (inspectors)  appear  on  the  arena,  and, 
taking  the  seats  at  the  foot  of  the  four  pillars,  take 
their  charge  to  inspect  the  result  of  matches, 
superintending  the  judgment  of  the  Gydji  (umpire). 
At  the  present  time  the  champion  wrestler  of  the 
east  party  is  Umegatani,  and  that  of  the  west 
Hitachiyama,  both  being  crowned  with  the  laurel  of 
the  highest  honour  called  the  "  Yokozuna"  which  is 
to  be  bestowed  upon  the  strongest  and  the  most 
meritorious  wrestlers  among  champions.  Among 
many  great  Japanese  wrestlers  who  ever  lived, 
Hitachiyama  is  the  only  one  that  was  abroad  ;  while 
most  of  the  wrestlers  are  dull  in  their  nature,  he!  has 
a  knowledge  and  intellect  not  inferior  to  ordinary 
persons,  and  is  worthy  to  be  proud  of  the  complete 
development  of  his  constitution  every  inch  in  the 
trunk  and  limbs,  so  that  he  can  be  said  a  specimen  of 
the  beauty  of  human  body.  In  contrast  to  the  great 
champion  of  the  west,  Umegatani  of  the  east  is  his 
competent  enemy.  By  his  countenance  he  seems  to 
be  dull  and  ignorant,  but  he  is  a  clever  and  skilful 
fighter ;  his  body  is  big  and  round  like  an  elephant, 
and  specially  the  most  strangely  developed  part  is  his 
large  and  projecting  belly — none  of  strong  wrestlers 
can  defeat  him  if  one's  body  is  taken  on  and  pushed 
by  his  large  and  tight  belly.  Certainly  the  two 
great  heroes  must  be  said  a  pair  of  kings  among  the 
circle  of  the  Japanese  wrestlers  and  the  honour  for 
the  Tokyo  Wrestling  Association,  as  well  as  for  the 

91 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

citizens  of  Tokyo — nay,  the  living  decorations  of  the 
Empire  at  this  present  age ! 

To  return  to  the  Amateur  Wrestling. 

One  summer  evening  you  visit  an  amateur 
wrestling  body  consisting  of  men  of  letters.  The 
body  is  called  the  Bunshi  Zumo  (Men  of  letters' 
Wrestling),  whose  matches  take  place  every  evening 
on  the  ring  constructed  at  the  back  yard  of  the  house 
of  Sui-in  Emi,  the  novelist,  the  ring  being  covered 
with  a  roof  supported  by  the  four  pillars.  It  is  five  in 
the  evening,  and  when  you  enter  the  gate  of  Emi  and 
come  round  near  the  arena,  you  find  a  number  of 
so-called  wrestlers  assembled  near  the  ring,  all  being 
students,  but  the  time  being  still  too  early,  matches 
are  not  yet  commenced.  Emi,  the  founder  of  the 
Bunshi  Zumo>  tells  you  that,  when  the  band  was  first 
established,  most  of  the  members  consisted  of  literary 
men — Shunro  Oshikawa,  Tenkei  Hasegawa,  Kiku-u 
Saiki,  Sagoromo  Kurishima,  Keigetsu  Omachi, 
Kakuhan  Kamiya,  Namiroku  Chinunoura,  etc.,  all 
being  novelists,  essayists,  journalists,  or  dramatists. 
Once  there  happened  such  a  funny  event  that,  when 
Sui-in,  the  founder,  and  Kakuhan,  the  journalist,  were 
fighting,  the  latter  was  pushed  away  out  of  the  ring ; 
but  he  was  not  aware  of  his  being  defeated,  and, 
without  setting  free  his  hands  from  the  enemy's  body, 
continued  to  struggle  at  the  outside  of  the  arena  ;  at 
last,  the  two  bodies  falling  down  into  a  large  dust-bin 
put  by  the  side  of  the  house,  the  game  was  hardly 
settled.  At  present  most  of  these  literary  wrestlers 
were  replaced  by  students,  among  whom  most  hopeful 
champions  are  Hakuryu  Inouye,  of  the  Fine  Arts 
School,  and  Kishi  Shigeo,  of  the  Dentist  School — the 
total  members  amounting  to  more  than  sixty. 

Now  it  becomes  dark,  and  lamps  are  lighted  on 
the  pillars.  The  members  of  the  band  having  almost 
assembled  now,  the  competitions  on  this  evening 
are  to  be  commenced.  It  is  very  lucky  for  you  that 
this  evening  all  notable  fighters  of  the  circle  have 

92 


AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

made  their  appearance :  Tamano-o,  famous  for  his  art; 
Tamausagi,  excellent  for  overthrowing  the  enemy; 
Inouye  and  Kishi,  the  two  champions ;  and  the 
Captain  Kametaka,  celebrated  for  his  merit  of  having 
extinguished  the  fire  in  his  steamer  during  her 
voyage  in  the  Indian  Sea  last  year  (1912) — all  can 
be  found  among  the  group  of  wrestlers. 

The  first  match  is  fought  by  Tamano-o  and 
Tamausagi ;  when  the  two  come  upon  the  ring, 
each  behaves  just  as  the  professionals  do  before 
he  enters  fighting,  gargling  with  water  and  purify- 
ing the  body  by  sprinkling  pinches  of  salt.  When 
both  stand  up  to  fight,  their  postures  are  very 
funny :  each  is  standing  a  few  minutes  apart  from 
the  other  in  order  to  catch  the  opportunity  for 
attack,  waving  up  and  down  his  both  hands  and 
crying,  "  Yoh,ydk!"  Finally  they  come  to  grapple, 
and  after  some  minutes  of  severe  struggle,  Tamano-o 
gets  the  honour  of  the  victor.  Taking  the  place  of 
Tamausagi,  the  defeated  warrior,  Sui-in  Emi,  the 
old  champion,  appears  on  the  arena  to  fight  against 
the  triumphant  hero  Tamano-o.  When  the  two 
stand  up  Sui-in  suddenly  raised  up  his  hands  high 
above  his  head,  just  like  a  man  who  is  shouting 
"  Banzai  !  "  ("  Live  forever ! "),  and  taking  the  oppor- 
tunity, the  enemy  steps  near  him  and  grasps  his  belt. 
You  anticipate  that,  the  belt  being  seized  by  the 
enemy,  Sui-in  should  be  defeated,  but  he  composedly 
drops  down  his  long  arms,  and  no  sooner  he  seizes 
the  knot  of  the  belt  at  the  enemy's  back,  than  he 
carries  the  enemy  out  of  the  ring  by  suspending 
the  body  with  his  two  hands,  together  with  his  one 
cry,  "  Yoh  I  "  Another  wrestler  is  again  defeated  by 
Sui-in  with  the  same  trick,  this  time  overthrowing 
the  enemy  by  twisting  his  arms  round  the  neck. 
The  student  wrestlers,  who  are  looking  at  the  games, 
whisper,  "  The  way  of  our  leader's  wrestling  is  very 
cruel ! " 

Next  the  champion  Hakuryu  Inonye  appears  on 

93 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

the  ring,  and,  in  a  few  moments,  throws  down  Sui-in. 
Being  desperate  now,  the  latter  tries  another  match, 
but  is  again  defeated.  Coming  down  from  the 
arena,  and  after  washing  away  the  sand  on  his  body, 
Sui-in  puts  on  the  white  summer  clothes,  and  then, 
coming  to  you,  complains,  "  I  wished  to  show  you 
how  strong  I  am  by  defeating  the  rivals,  but  my 
disciples  do  not  hesitate  to  beat  down  their  master. 
Kakuryu,  who  threw  me  down  twice  just  now,  is  so 
mighty  a  hero  that,  once  when  Azabuyama,  the 
champion  of  the  Azabu  amateur  band,  came  and 
challenged  the  match  against  him,  he  defeated  the 
enemy  thirty-nine  times  out  of  the  forty  successive 
combats,  and  he,  as  well  as  all  others,  was  at  first 
trained  under  my  directions.  Nevertheless,  they 
all  forget  my  efforts  done  for  them,  and  advise 
me  to  be  the  toshiyort  (elder)  of  the  band  now." 
Meanwhile,  on  the  arena  the  new  game  takes  place 
between  Hakuryu  and  Kishi,  another  champion. 
You  expect  the  match  to  be  most  interesting, 
because  it  is  the  great  wrestling  between  the  two 
greatest  heroes  of  the  circle.  You  are  sure  that, 
even  if  either  of  the  champions  fights  with  a  pro- 
fessional of  the  third  rank,  he  can  probably  defeat 
the  enemy.  The  combat  of  the  two  gladiators 
continues  for  about  a  quarter,  and  at  last  the  umpire 
sentences  the  drawn  game.  After  many  interest- 
ing and  funny  matches  further,  the  tournament  of 
this  evening  is  closed  at  half-past  ten. 

You  are  told  that,  at  Shin-ami  of  the  Shiba  Ward, 
there  is  held  an  amateur  wrestling  every  evening 
this  summer,  and  try  to  visit  it  at  about  7  P.M., 
when  the  sky  is  already  covered  with  a  slight  dark. 
The  quarter  of  Shin-ami  is  one  of  the  notorious  dens 
of  needy  folks,  and,  when  you  come  near  the  narrow 
streets  of  poor  small  buildings,  your  nose  is  attacked 
with  the  stinks  floating  in  the  air.  Being  told  by  a 
boy  of  the  position  of  the  wrestling-ring,  you  step  in 

94 


AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

a  narrow  alley  only  two  feet  wide,  and  are  surprised 
to  find  that  all  men  and  women  in  the  houses  on  the 
both  sides  of  the  alley,  as  well  as  those  standing  at 
their  entrances,  are  all  naked  ;  and  at  the  same  time 
you  think  that,  even  the  women  being  naked  here, 
the  wrestling  must  be  very  popular  in  the  quarter. 
Passing  through  the  alley,  you  arrive  at  a  large  vacant 
land,  where  you  find  a  low  wrestling-ring  furnished 
with  the  Shihonbashira  (Four  Pillars).  Though  a 
room  for  wrestlers  is  not  prepared,  a  shrine  of  Inari 
(God  of  Harvests)  at  a  corner  of  the  land  is  utilised 
for  the  depot  of  clothes  and  others  taken  off  by 
wrestlers.  The  land  being  situated  near  the  Shiba 
Detached  Palace,  and  perhaps  as  the  result  of  inter- 
ference by  the  police,  one  side  of  the  land  fronting 
the  Palace  is  covered  high  with  the  large  reed  blind. 

On  the  dark  arena,  where  no  lamps  are  yet  lighted, 
several  pairs  of  small  boys  are  wrestling  in  entangle- 
ment. A  naked  wife  runs  up  here,  catches  one  of  the 
boys,  and  cries  out,  "  This  devil,  you  took  father's  belt 
again  ! "  and,  taking  off  the  belt  from  the  boy's  body, 
she  hurries  back  with  it  to  her  house.  The  boy  is 
sobbing,  and  runs  after  the  mother  to  recover  the  belt, 
for  he  could  not  wrestle  without  it. 

Near  nine  o'clock  warriors  of  the  quarter  gradually 
assemble  around  the  arena,  most  of  them  consisting 
of  the  inhabitants  in  Azabu,  Akasaka,  and  Shimbori, 
and  they  are  rikisha-mzr\}  servants  of  rice  dealers,  cart- 
pushers,  and  young  masters  of  public  houses.  As  the 
quarter  is  swampy  and  dirty,  spectators  are  attacked 
by  the  army  of  mosquitoes,  but  the  people  living 
hereabout  being  too  poor  to  visit  the  professional 
wrestling  by  paying  a  high  admission,  they  are  very 
much  pleased  to  see  the  free  exhibition  of  voluntary 
fighters,  and  giving  noisy  applause  for  their  favourite 
wrestlers,  in  spite  of  the  severe  assault  of  stinging 
insects,  which  they  hardly  drive  away  by  uchiwa 
(round  fan)  carried  in  their  hand.  Mixed  in  the 
crowd  there  can  be  seen  a  number  of  young  girls,  who 

95 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

are  daughters  of  labourers  in  the  poor  houses  at  the 
neighbourhood  ;  in  daytime  they  were  busy  for  the 
jobs  of  handwork,  making  match-boxes  or  pasting 
fan's  paper,  but  now,  having  taken  a  bath  and  painted 
the  face,  they  have  appeared  to  see  the  wrestling. 
They  criticise  the  countenance  of  wrestlers,  and  are 
smacking  their  lips  by  taking  tokoroten  or  mitsumame 
(viands  of  the  lowest  class). 

The  Noryo  Zumo  is  another  name  of  the  Shiroto 
Zumo  (Amateur  Wrestling),  and  it  means  the  Cool- 
taking  Wrestling — i.e.,  wrestling  under  the  cool  breeze 
of  the  summer  evening.  The  place  most  appropriate 
for  the  Cool-taking  Wrestling  is  the  reclaimed  land 
at  the  foreshore  of  Shibaura.  Standing  on  the  broad 
vacant  land,  you  can  look  the  mountains  of  Awa  and 
Kadzusa  provinces  in  front  far  beyond  the  calm  sea, 
and,  on  both  the  right  and  left  sides,  brilliant  lights  of 
the  prostitute  quarters  of  Shinagawa  and  Susaki  can 
be  seen  distinctly.  Every  summer  evening  inhabi- 
tants in  the  vicinity  gather  here,  after  finished  supper 
and  bath,  to  have  the  cool  breeze  from  the  sea,  and, 
as  the  time  passes  on,  the  number  of  these  cool-takers 
is  gradually  increased  to  several  thousands  —  men, 
women,  and  children,  all  clothed  in  white  summer 
clothes  and  carrying  round  fans.  Among  them  there 
are  young  men,  who  are  very  fond  of  wrestling,  and 
they  begin  to  try  matches.  At  a  spot  of  the  land  near 
the  bath-restaurant  Takeshiba-kan,  there  is  a  heap  of 
sand  about  three  inches  high  and  making  an  arena 
most  suitable  for  wrestling.  Chief  fighters  wrestling 
on  the  natural  ring  are  young  fishermen  living  along 
the  shore  of  the  Shinagawa  Bay,  and  you  are  told 
that,  as  their  fighting  is  very  violent,  the  first  son  of 
an  old  fisherman  became  lame  last  summer,  and  his 
second  son,  having  broken  the  right  arm  this  summer, 
is  still  lying  on  bed.  Those  who  are  wrestling  now 
jump  into  the  sea  when  they  are  sweated,  and,  after 
cooling  themselves  in  the  waves,  come  out  and  wrestle 


AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

again  ;  repeating  the  swimming  and  the  wrestling  by 
turns,  they  are  entirely  tired  out,  and  at  length  lie 
down  on  the  ground  near  the  fence  of  the  restaurant. 
On  this  occasion  samisen  and  songs  sound  to  their 
ears  from  the  Takeshibakan  ;  then  these  light-hearted 
fellows  begin  to  hum  a  song  following  the  other's 
samisen.  It  is  said  good  professionals  are  often  pro- 
duced out  of  these  amateur  wrestlers.  Sometimes 
betting  is  done  for  the  matches,  and  some  successful 
combatants  win  a  wonderful  sum  of  money  in  one 
evening. 

This  evening  you  visit  the  wrestling  at  Akasoka. 
The  space  is  situated  obliquely  opposite  to  the  theatre 
Engiza,  and,  being  near  the  quarter  of  the  Akasoka 
geisha  circle,  you  find  the  scene  to  be  gaudiest  among 
all  the  amateur  wrestlings  you  have  ever  seen.  The 
ring  is  made  within  an  enclosure,  and  cannot  be  seen 
from  outside.  The  wall  of  the  entrance  is  covered 
with  hand-bills  notifying  the  presents  from  the  patrons 
to  the  manager  and  the  favourite  wrestlers  —  such 
as :  "3  Rolls  of  towels  and  50  quires  of  Japanese 
paper  to  the  manager  from  Miss  Kinko  Omiya 
(geisha)"  \  "Yen  10.00  to  Mr  Arashiyama  (wrestler) 
from  Yamadaya  (patron),"  etc.,  etc.  The  greater 
part  of  wrestlers  who  appear  here  are  young  fellows 
living  in  four  streets  of  Tamachi  in  the  Akasoka  Ward, 
the  rest  coming  from  Azabu  and  Shiba.  Almost  all 
things  necessary  for  the  wrestling  performance  are 
arranged  here  as  done  by  the  professional,  Kensayaku, 
Gydji,  and  Yobidashi  being  appointed  among  members 
of  the  circle,  and  you  are  told  that  the  champions  of 
the  place  are  called  Hana-arashi  and  Inanoheso. 

In  the  enclosure  the  roof  of  the  ring  is  covered 
with  red  and  white  curtains,  and  the  four  pillars  are 
wrapped  up  with  cloths  of  four  colours, — blue,  white, 
red,  and  black.  It  is  now  7  P.M.,  and  spectators 
already  assembled  around  the  ring  amounts  to  more 
than  one  thousand.  Sound  of  wooden  clappers 

97  G 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

informs  the  beginning  of  matches,  and  boy  wrestlers 
prepare  to  come  upon  the  arena  by  taking  off 
their  clothes.  Meanwhile  three  old  men  take  their 
seats  by  a  table  set  near  the  box  of  spectators, 
and  bottles  of  soda-water,  towels,  paper,  notebooks, 
etc.,  are  arranged  on  the  table  as  the  prizes  for 
conquerors.  A  tinker  named  Kinsan  being  appointed 
the  crier,  he  appears  on  the  ring  and  asks  the  name 
of  the  boy  at  the  west  party  :  "  What  is  your  name  ? 
Sunamoguri  ?  All  right."  Next  coming  to  the  east : 
"  Your  name  ?  What,  Hitachiyama  ?  This  champion 
Hitachi  seems  to  have  been  ill  and  is  very  lean ! " 
Then,  standing  at  the  centre,  he  cries  out  the  two 
boys :  "  On  the  east,  Hitachiyama-a-a !  on  the  west, 
Sunamoguri-i-i ! "  When  the  two  boys  come  upon 
from  both  sides,  the  umpire  appears  on  the  ring 
carrying  a  gunbai  (war-fan)  made  of  the  plain  wood 
and  clad  in  an  old  costume  called  the  Kami-shimo. 
At  the  instant  when  he  takes  his  position  between 
the  two  small  heroes,  one  of  spectators  cries : 
"Hallo,  tailor!  Be  an  honest  umpire!"  The 
tailor-umpire  introduces  the  wrestlers  again  to  the 
audience,  pointing  with  his  war-fan  at  each  of  them 
in  turn :  "  Hitachiyama  on  the  east ;  Sunamoguri 
on  the  west ! "  As  soon  as  his  fan  is  withdrawn 
the  rivals  struggle  pell-mell,  and  after  a  few  minutes 
the  slender  Hitachi  is  thrown  down.  Matches  are 
carried  on  continually  by  successive  pairs,  and  as 
the  time  goes  on  all  folks  in  the  space,  spectators, 
wrestlers,  and  umpire,  become  much  enlivened  and 
very  noisy.  Specially  the  activity  of  the  tailor- 
umpire  is  striking  ;  being  over-enthusiastic  with  his 
business,  he  overlooks  a  wrestler's  false  steps  out  of  the 
ring  and  often  misassigns  the  defeated  as  the  victor 
— sometimes,  coming  behind  the  body  of  a  wrestler,  he 
is  thrown  out  of  the  arena  together  with  the  defeated 
hero.  The  warning  is  given  to  the  umpire  by  some  of 
spectators  :  "  Umpire,  you  must  be  steadier  and  more 
attentive ! "  Hearing  this,  the  tailor  with  the  war-fan 


AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

becomes  very  angry,  and,  staring  with  his  stretched 
eyes,  at  once  retaliates  by  crying  out  from  the  ring : 
"Spectators  have  no  right  to  say  anything  on  the 
match.  Don't  say  such  affected  things ;  I  am  not 
an  amateur  as  umpire ! " 

Towards  ten  o'clock  geisha  and  waiting  -  maids 
of  machiai  and  restaurants  come  to  see  the  matches, 
some  geisha  getting  already  drunk.  Presented  with 
new  gifts  by  these  girls,  the  manager  writes  down 
hand -bills  at  once  and  requests  the  umpire  to 
announce  the  new  presents.  In  the  professional 
wrestling  announcement  of  presents  are  done  by 
the  crier  at  intervals  of  matches,  but  in  this  amateur 
wrestling  the  umpire  is  entirely  indifferent  of  the 
match  going  on,  and  at  once  cries  out  in  the 
midst  of  the  serious  combat  of  wrestlers,  "  Yen  so- 
and-so,  presented  to  the  manager  by  so-and-so ! " 
What  an  illegal,  but  an  innocent  conduct  of  the 
umpire ! 

On  the  arena  there  is  a  boy  about  fifteen  years 
old,  and  he  is  so  powerful  that  no  boys  can  conquer 
him.  At  this  time,  some  five  or  six  students,  all 
twenty-five  or  six  years  old,  come  into  the  place, 
and  one  of  them,  who  bears  a  mustache,  says  :  "  That 
little  fellow  is  too  strong.  All  right,  I'll  try  him." 
At  an  instant  he  takes  off  his  clothes  and  jumps 
upon  the  ring.  In  spite  of  protestation  by  his  friends 
and  the  manager,  saying,  "  A  man  is  not  allowed  to 
intrude  among  boys,"  he  begins  to  fight  with  the  boy- 
champion  ;  the  boy  is  overthrown  at  once,  though 
he  made  efforts  against  the  "  mustache,"  and,  coming 
down  the  ring  and  sobbing,  goes  to  wash  his  feet. 
The  father  of  the  boy  is  much  excited,  and,  consol- 
ing his  son,  "  That  fellow  of  '  mustache '  is  making 
fools  of  us.  Don't  weep ;  I  shall  protest  to  him," 
and  approaches  the  ring.  There  a  quarrel  has  been 
about  to  take  place,  but,  being  prevented  and 
soothed  by  inspectors  and  other  persons,  the 
father  is  compelled  to  retire  in  peace  to  his  seat. 

99 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

Unconcerned  to  such  troubles,  the  student  on  the 
ring  continues  to  fight  with  boys  in  turn,  and  defeats 
them  all.  Seeing  this,  men  hate  him,  and  some 
wrestlers  try  to  beat  him  down  ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
the  "  mustache "  is  far  obstinate  to  yield,  and  all 
they  are  at  a  loss.  In  the  meantime  Inanoheso,  the 
strongest  wrestler  of  the  band,  happens  to  appear, 
and,  being  told  of  the  details  of  the  situation,  he  is 
exasperated,  and  instantly  goes  up  into  the  arena. 
While  friends  of  the  student  are  crying  his  name, 
"  Dekoyama !  Dekoyama  ! "  the  geisha,  waiting- 
maids,  and  other  spectators  pour  out  the  shouts  for 
Inanoheso,  because  the  latter  has  many  friends  and 
backers  at  the  quarter ;  cheers  and  noises  of  all 
persons  in  the  space  are  so  tremendous  that  a 
hive  has  suddenly  burst  out — no  less  than  the  great 
tumult  often  seen  in  the  Grand  Wrestling  at  the 
Kokugikan  of  Ryogoku.  The  rivals  stand  up";  first 
Mr  "  Ina  "  tries  a  strong  push,  but  Mr  "  Mustache " 
sustains  it.  Then  comes  a  body-to-body  struggle, 
and  each  hastening  to  beat  down  the  other,  Mr 
"Ina"  ventures  a  throw.  Mr  "Mustache"  staggers, 
yet  he  could  hardly  check  from  falling  down, 
and  at  once  gives  a  throw  to  the  enemy,  vice  versfi, ; 
at  this  moment,  as  the  result  of  his  repeated  severe 
fightings,  the  belt  of  the  "  Mustache "  is  loosened 
and  falls  down,  and  his  legs  being  twisted  round  with 
it,  he  tumbles  down.  The  umpire  appoints  with  his 
war-fan  Inanoheso  as  the  conqueror,  and  thunderous 
applause  is  poured  upon  him  from  all  parts  of  the 
space.  The  inspectors  at  the  pillars,  however,  give 
their  verdict :  "  If  his  belt  had  not  been  loosed,  he  got 
the  victory."  And  the  umpire  is  blamed :  "  It  is  the 
umpire's  error  that  the  match  was  not  suspended  at 
the  moment  when  he  found  the  belt  was  loosened." 
Troubles  on  the  match  are  thus  settled  by  the  judg- 
ment of  impartial  inspectors,  and  then  a  recess  for  ten 
minutes  is  announced  by  the  umpire.  A  little  girl 
of  a  geisha-house  comes  in,  and,  approaching  a  box, 

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AMATEUR  WRESTLING 

speaks  to  a  girl :  "  Kogiku-neisan,  Ozashika  desuyo  !  " 
(  "  Miss  Kogiku,  you  are  hired  to  a  restaurant !  "  ) 
Vendors  of  refreshments  appear  and  go  round  the 
spectators'  seat ;  they  supply  with  cakes,  oranges, 
cigarettes,  ice-cream,  lemonade,  sake,  and  beer. 


101 


CHAPTER  X 

GREAT  FIREWORKS  AT  RYOGOKU 

ALL  newspapers  in  Tokyo  report  that  an  exhibition 
of  the  great  fireworks  will  be  held  at  Ryogoku  in  the 
evening  of  the  2nd  of  August,  and  you  expect  to 
visit  it.  About  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the 
appointed  day  you  leave  your  house  and  take  the 
tram  for  Ryogoku.  When  it  comes  near  the  square 
at  the  approach  of  the  bridge  Asakusa  (Asakusa- 
basht),  which  is  about  a  furlong  distant  to  the  bridge 
Ryogoku  (Ryogoku-basht),  it  stops  suddenly,  and  the 
conductor  apologises  to  the  passengers  by  explaining 
that,  the  road  being  entirely  crammed  up  with  people, 
it  is  dangerous  to  go  on  farther,  and  that  the  police- 
men forbid  all  trams  to  advance  any  more  than  this 
spot.  You  then  get  down  from  the  car,  and  are 
surprised  to  see  great  multitudes  of  people  over- 
flowing on  the  streets  leading  to  the  bridge  Ryogaku, 
both  on  the  pavement  and  the  roadway.  Pushing 
through  the  throngs,  you  could  hardly  reach  the 
approach  of  the  bridge.  The  fireworks  are  to  be 
carried  out  on  the  River  Sumida,  over  which  the 
bridge  is  crossed,  and  five  large  flat  boats  are  anchored 
at  the  middle  of  the  stream  on  each  of  the  upper  and 
lower  waters  of  the  river  ;  in  these  boats  all  prepara- 
tions for  the  fireworks  of  the  evening  are  fully 
arranged  by  the  expert  engineers  of  the  art.  On  the 
bridge  policemen  are  standing  along  the  railings  of 
both  sides  with  a  space  of  about  two  yards  from 

102 


A   KORIYA  OR   ICE-SHOP. 


FIREWORKS   AT   RYOGOKU 

one  another,  and  prohibit  people  from  stopping  on 
the  bridge  to  look  the  exhibition;  they  are  to  pass 
the  bridge  from  the  one  to  the  other  bank  of  the 
river  by  taking  the  left  side  only,  a  big  strong  rope 
being  stretched  along  the  middle  line  of  the  bridge. 
All  restaurants  and  other  houses  along  the  river 
on  the  both  banks  are  wide  opened,  and  beautifully 
decorated  to  furnish  good  seats  for  customers  and 
friends. 

The  night  exhibition  of  the  great  fireworks  at 
Ryogoku  is  generally  known  under  the  popular  name 
of  the  Kawa-biraki,  and  annually  carried  out  at  the 
midst  of  the  hot  summer.  The  Kawa-biraki  means 
"  Opening  of  the  River,"  and  is  originated  from  the 
following  fact : — 

In  the  age  of  the  Tokugawa  Government  (since  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century)  the  Suijin  Sat 
(Festival  of  the  River  God)  of  the  Sumidagawa 
Shrine  at  Sui-jin-no-mori,  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Sumida  River,  was  celebrated  on 
the  28th  May  (lunar  calendar)  every  summer,  and  the 
exhibition  of  fireworks  was  contributed  to  the 
festival  by  the  manufacturers  called  the  Kagiya.  On 
and  after  the  festival  day  of  the  River  God  the  River 
Sumida  was  crowded  with  boats,  in  which  citizens  of 
Yedo  (Tokyo)  were  pleased  to  take  the  evening  cool. 
In  this  age  neither  samurai  of  high  rank  nor  rich 
merchants  knew  to  go  up-country  to  escape  the 
summer  heat,  but  their  only  means  to  avoid  the  heat 
was  the  boat  excursion  coming  to  the  river  after 
sunset.  Thus,  as  the  festival  of  the  River  God  was 
recognised  to  be  done  on  the  first  day  for  the  season 
of  boat  excursion  every  summer,  the  festival  was 
called  the  Kawa-biraki,  or  "  Opening  of  the  River," 
and  the  fireworks  always  accompanying  the  festival, 
the  fireworks  itself  came  to  be  called  the  Kawa-biraki, 
Though  the  fireworks  was  at  first  exhibited  by  con- 
tribution to  the  festival  by  the  manufacturers,  after- 
wards it  was  given  by  the  boat-letters  living  along  the 

103 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

river,   in    order    to    flourish    their    business    during 
summer  by  drawing  spectators.     These  boat-letters, 
which  were  abundant  up  to  some  twenty  years  ago, 
gradually  disappeared,  and  at  present  the  restaurants 
in  vicinity  of  the  bridge  Ryogoku  have  taken  place 
of  them,   the   performance   of   the    fireworks   every 
summer  being  taken  in  charge  of  these  restaurants  too. 
You  hardly  pass  over  the  bridge  Ryogoku  to  the 
east  bank,  where  the  Kokugikan,  the  great  hall  for 
wrestling,  stands,  and,  turning  to  the  left,  arrive  at  the 
verge  of  the  bank  commanding  the  whole  view  of  the 
river.     In  Kamesei,  Ryukotei,  Fukagawatei,  Nishuro, 
Fukuiro,  Ikuine,  and  other  restaurants  and  machiai 
(waiting-houses)  on  the  both  banks  of  the  river,  the 
rooms  both  up  and  downstairs  fronting  to  the  river 
are  entirely  open,  all   paper-slides  and  doors  being 
taken  off,  and  thousands  of  electric  lamps  and  red- 
coloured  round  paper  lanterns  are  hanging  under  the 
eaves  of  each  story  of  these  buildings.     These  long 
rows  of  lights  being  reflected  upon  the  surface  of  the 
river,  ripples  on  the  water  appear  like  golden  scales 
of  a  large  wriggling  dragon.     Large  and  small  boats 
filled  with  spectators  almost  cover  the  surface  of  the 
river,  rows   of  these   boats  occupying  the  length  of 
about  a  mile  of  the  upper  and  lower  waters  on  the 
both   sides   of  the   Ryogoku   Bridge ;    they   are  all 
decorated    with    paper    lanterns,    too,   music    being 
played  in  some  of  them. 

Suddenly  a  bang  echoes  upon  the  water,  and  a 
crackling  in  the  sky  notifies  the  opening  of  the 
exhibition  of  fireworks.  On  the  river  boats  of  the 
water-police  are  running,  endeavouring  to  bring 
spectators'  boats  in  order  and  to  avoid  them  from 
danger  of  collision ;  on  the  bridge  and  banks  police- 
men are  making  efforts  to  control  the  bustles  and 
pressures  of  tremendous  crowds.  At  the  entrance 
of  the  Ryogoku  Square,  near  the  approach  of  the 
bridge,  and  in  two  or  three  tents  established  along 
the  banks,  police  surgeons  or  physicians  of  the  Red 

104 


FIREWORKS   AT   RYOGOKU 

Cross  Hospital  make  preparation  to  receive  the  dis- 
eased or  the  wounded.  Temporary  galleries  or  boxes 
constructed  along  the  banks,  and  the  rooms  and 
balconies  of  restaurants,  are  now  quite  full  of 
spectators.  Every  moment,  when  a  firework  is  given, 
voices  of  acclamation  and  cries  of  applause  cover  the 
whole  sphere  of  Ryogoku,  both  on  land  and  water. 

The   fireworks   exhibited   in   this   evening   are   of 
various  kinds,  all  characteristic  to  Japan.     They  can 
be   classified   into  two   parts — the    Uchiage  and  the 
Shikake.     The  Uchiage  is  a  ball,  which  is  shot  out 
from  a  large  wooden  barrel  and  bursts  up  high  in 
the  sky  ;  and  the  Shikake  is  a  large  framework  erected 
on  the  boat,  and  a  skilful  fireworks  are  twisted  around 
the  bones  of  the  frame.     When  a  Uchiage  ball  bursts 
out,  it  exhibits  a  large  brilliant  flower  consisting  of 
fireballs  of  various  colours,  or  sometimes,  after  the 
momentary  fire-flower  extinguished,  some  five  or  six 
fireballs  of  red,  blue,  green,  and  yellow  tints  are  sus- 
pended in  the  sky  like  stars,  and  floated  away  by  wind, 
sparkling  in  the  air  till  it  extinguishes  at  last.     The 
framework  of  the  Shikake  is  made  into  a  figure  of  a 
large  wheel,  Mount  Fuji,  a  magnificent  building  of  a 
palace,  a  flower-garden,  a  waterfall,  or  an  airship,  and 
if  the  fire  is  set  at  one  end  of  it,  the  whole  frame  is 
instantly  covered   with  the  burning  fires  of  various 
colours,  distinctly   representing  the  expected   figure 
made  of  the  beautiful  firework.     The  large  fire-wheel 
turns  and  turns,  pouring  down  the  rain  of  beautiful 
sparks.     The  gigantic  Mount  Fuji  stands  high  in  the 
air,  showing  her  splendid  conical  feature  covered  with 
green  fires  as  woods  at  the  foot  and  with  purple  smoke, 
as  clouds  near  the  top.     A  fire  building  represents  the 
Imperial  Palace  of  Shishinden,  at  Kyoto;  at  the  two 
sides  of  its  stairs  leading  from  the  yard  to  the  high 
floor  there  stand  two  trees,  the  cherry  to  the  right  and 
the  tachibana  to  the  left,  both  in  full  bloom,  and  the 
inner  part  of  the  building  being  fully  decorated  with 
coloured  doors.     The  flower-garden   represents   the 

105 


THE   NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

whole  view  of  that  in  Hibiya  Park,  clusters  of  autumn 
flowers  of  all  kinds  competing  their  size  and  beauty. 
The  number  of  fireworks,  both  the  Uchiage  and  the 
Shikake,  to  be  exhibited  in  this  night  amounts  to 
more  than  three  hundreds. 

Leaving  the  spot  of  the  bank-side,  you  try  to  come 
to  the  southern  part  of  the  same  bank,  and,  hardly 
passing  the  approach  of  the  bridge  through  the  press- 
ing crowds,  arrive  at  the  front  of  the  gate  of  the 
restaurant  Nishuro.  You  buy  a  ticket,  which  costs 
one^;z,  and  enter  the  gate.  Taking  a  wood  check  for 
your  footgear,  you  are  guided  by  a  girl  into  a  hall  up- 
stairs ;  the  hall  is  of  a  pure  Japanese  style,  the  floor 
being  spread  with  fifty  mats.  The  whole  room  is 
fully  occupied  by  spectators,  most  of  them  consisting 
of  young  boys  and  girls  accompanied  by  their  parents 
or  brothers.  The  seats  are  regularly  arranged  in  such 
a  way  that  those  who  are  in  the  fore-side  near  the  river 
are  to  sit  down  on  the  zabuton,  and  those  at  the  behind- 
side  are  to  take  chairs.  As  often  as  a  firework  is  shot 
up  into  the  sky,  or  burnt  on  the  river,  boys  and  girls  in 
the  hall  are  applauding  for  its  beauty  and  splendour. 
At  one  corner  of  the  hall  a  number  of  waitresses  of  the 
restaurant  are  attending,  and  the  spectators  can  have 
from  them  any  kind  of  refreshments  as  they  wish — 
such  as  sandwich,  bread,  fruits,  cakes,  ice-cream,  beer, 
sake,  etc.  Some  old  men  who  seem  to  have  come 
here  as  guardians  for  their  grandsons  or  grand- 
daughters are  drinking  sake  and  gossiping  one  an- 
other with  their  back  to  the  riverside.  They  do  not 
care  for  the  fireworks,  but  are  pleased  to  be  absorbed 
in  drinking  and  speaking.  At  this  time  a  young 
gentleman  and  his  wife  come  in  the  hall  and  are 
appointed  by  a  waitress  to  the  chairs  at  the  rearmost 
side,  all  other  seats  being  already  occupied.  The 
young  lady  is  dressed  in  a  summer  clothes  of  rough 
striped  crape,  tightening  up  the  body,  with  the  belt  of 
white  hakata  fabric  ;  she  is  very  beautiful,  and  attracts 
attention  of  all  people  near  her.  "  Our  position,"  she 

106 


FIREWORKS  AT  RYOGOKU 

murmurs  to  her  husband,  "  is  too  far  from  the  riverside, 
and  we  cannot  have  a  good  look  for  the  fireworks. 
Let  us  have  a  better  seat,  my  dear."  "  It  is  too  late 
now,"  the  husband  replies,  "  to  get  good  seats ;  all 
houses  are  already  filled  up  with  guests.  I  think  it  is 
better  to  take  a  boat  in  the  river  than  to  search  for 
a  good  position  on  land."  "  Then  let  us  go  and  hire 
a  boat ! "  responds  she.  At  an  instant  the  couple  go 
down  the  stairs  and  leave  the  house  for  the  river-bank, 
where  boats  are  waiting  for  spectators.  You  follow 
them  to  the  bank  to  try  the  boat  too. 

On  the  bank,  more  than  twenty  yards  north  to 
the  Nishuro,  there  stands  a  temporary  booking-box, 
which  sells  the  boat  tickets,  and  its  five  windows  are 
crowded  with  the  purchasers  of  tickets.  The  tickets 
are  classified  into  three  kinds,  the  first,  second,  and 
third,  and  they  cost  fifty,  thirty,  and  ten  sen  per  piece 
respectively.  The  difference  of  the  value  of  tickets 
is  founded  upon  the  arrangement  of  the  boat :  the 
first-class  boat  is  furnished  with  chairs  and  tables,  and 
guests  on  board  each  boat  are  limited  to  a  small 
number,  thirty  to  fifty  ;  those  on  board  the  second-class 
one  are  to  sit  down  on  the  zabuton  prepared  on  the 
mattings,  and  amount  to  eighty  to  one  hundred  per 
boat ;  and  nearly  two  hundred  are  embarked  in  the 
third-class  boat,  and  almost  all  of  them  are  standing 
on  the  mattings.  All  these  boats  are  cabled  along  the 
bank,  and  as  soon  as  a  boat  is  filled  up  with  the  fixed 
number  of  guests,  she  is  rowed  out  towards  the  middle 
of  the  stream.  The  young  couple  could  hardly  buy 
the  first-class  tickets  and  get  into  a  boat  of  the 
corresponding  class.  Then  you  also  get  the  one  of 
the  same  class  and  hasten  on  board  the  same  boat. 
Not  long  before  our  boat  is  filled  up  and  departs  for 
a  suitable  position. 

Keeping  a  distance  of  some  one  hundred  yards 
around  the  boats  of  fireworks,  the  surface  of  the  river 
is  entirely  covered  with  all  kinds  of  large  and  small 
boats  of  spectators  —  steam  -  launches,  motor  -  boats, 

107 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

lighters,  house-boats  (yanebune),  and  fishing-boats 
being  all  equipped  to  correspond  to  the  demand  for 
this  night.  Each  boat  is  decorated  with  a  great 
number  of  coloured  paper  lanterns  (chochin\  and  in 
some  boats  sound  of  samisen  and  singing  of  girls  can 
be  heard.  People  in  their  private  boats  come  to  see 
the  exhibition  of  this  night  together  with  their  family 
and  servants,  or  those  who  have  engaged  the  whole  of 
a  house-boat  are  accompanied  by  their  friends  and 
intimate  geisha  to  make  enjoyment  of  one  night,  taking 
advantage  of  the  Kawabiraki.  It  is  said  one  boat 
costs  yen  5  to  20  to  hire  for  this  night,  the  rate  being 
arranged  according  to  the  kind  and  size  of  the  boat. 

Your  boat  is  filled  with  some  thirty  men,  women, 
and  children,  who  are  taking  chairs  along  five  round 
tables  covered  with  white  cloth.  On  each  table  a  tea- 
service  is  furnished,  and  a  kettle  containing  hot  water 
kept  on  a  gas  lamp.  Guests  in  the  boat  seem  to  be 
of  above  the  middle  rank,  and  specially  ladies  are 
dressed  very  neatly  in  summer  clothes  of  various 
light  colours,  all  of  them,  as  well  as  the  gentlemen, 
carrying  small  round  fans  in  their  hand.  The  young 
gentleman  and  his  wife  whom  you  have  followed  take 
their  position  at  a  table  near  the  bow,  and  seem  to  be 
satisfied  to  be  able  to  have  the  good  look  for  the  fire- 
works. The  boat  is  rowed  near  the  opposite  bank 
and  anchored  just  below  the  balcony  of  the  restaurant 
Fukuiro,  the  position  governing  a  good  view  for  both 
the  Uchiage  and  the  Shikake  works.  While  you  are 
looking  the  continued  performance  of  the  fireworks, 
small  boats  of  vendors  come  to  and  fro,  evading 
among  the  mass  of  spectators'  boats,  and  sell  drinks 
and  eatings.  Children  in  your  boat  request  their 
parents  to  buy  fruits  and  cakes  from  these  boat 
vendors  and,  by  the  way,  some  of  gentlemen  take 
bottles  of  beer  or  sake  from  them.  You  could  have 
the  satisfactory  sight  on  the  exhibition  of  more 
than  one  hundred  fireworks  of  both  Uchiage  and 
Shikake,  and  when  it  is  finished,  at  about  ten 

1 08 


FIREWORKS  AT   RYOGOKU 

o'clock,  your  boat  is  rowed  back  to  the  landing- 
stage,  and  you  get  upon  the  bank  immediately. 
Looking  down  on  the  river  from  the  bank,  confusion 
of  boats  in  a  tremendous  number  is  indescribable, 
all  hastening  to  go  back  for  their  own  home,  the  cries 
of  boatsmen  and  whistles  of  steamboats  echoing  each 
other  ;  the  steam-launches  and  boats  of  the  water- 
police  are  flying  among  the  bustles  of  the  spectators' 
vessels  and  endeavouring  to  keep  order  by  all  their 
efforts. 

Confusion  of  crowds  on  land  is  enormous.  Pressing 
throngs  of  people  are  flowing  on  like  tidal  waves  in 
all  main  streets  at  the  quarter  of  Ryogoku,  and  ladies 
and  gentlemen  who  come  out  of  the  gates  of 
restaurants  take  their  carriages  or  automobiles,  but 
cannot  drive  them  for  home  until  the  dense  crowd 
of  the  street  is  a  little  reduced.  Being  pushed  and 
pushing,  you  hardly  arrive  near  the  east  approach  of 
the  Ryogoku  Bridge,  which  is  so  dreadfully  pressed 
up  with  people  that,  taking  its  left  side  according  to 
the  direction  of  policemen,  you  could  pass  over  to  the 
west  end  as  if  at  the  risk  of  your  life.  Turning  left 
and  pushing  through  the  throng,  you  come  at  the  east 
entrance  of  the  Ryogoku  Square.  Entering  the  stone 
gate,  you  approach  one  of  the  public  summer  houses 
in  the  square  to  take  a  rest  for  a  few  minutes,  but 
all  these  houses  are  found  to  be  already  occupied  by 
overflowing  multitudes.  While  you  are  compelled  to 
wander  about  on  the  lane  along  the  lawn,  you  find  a 
number  of  people  standing  on  the  way  and  discussing 
one  another.  Drawing  near  and  looking  over  their 
shoulders,  you  see  a  little  girl,  some  seven  years  old, 
weeping  bitterly.  Making  enquiry  to  one  of  the  by- 
standers, you  are  told  that  she  has  strayed  from  her 
parents  on  her  way  home  ;  and  then,  pushing  aside  the 
people,  you  approach  the  girl  and  very  kindly  ask  the 
name  and  address  of  her  parents.  She  is  very  wise, 
and  could  give  particulars  in  reply  to  your  questions, 
though  she  is  still  sobbing.  You  take  the  girl  to  the 

109 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

police-station  just  behind  the  back  gate  of  the  square, 
and  when  you  meet  a  policeman  and  talk  him  of  the 
girl,  you  are  told  by  him  that  there  are  more  than  ten 
stray  children  who  are  protected  in  the  station.  Then 
you  are  shown  into  a  room  where  these  children  are 
received  ;  they  are  boys  and  girls  from  five  to  ten 
years  old,  and  some  are  weeping,  some  eating  cakes 
given  by  policemen.  The  girl  whom  you  brought 
here  is  taken  into  the  same  room,  and  at  the  moment 
when  you  are  to  leave  the  station  there  come  in  three 
men  with  anxious  face,  and  they  make  application 
for  discovery  of  their  lost  children.  At  once  they  are 
shown  into  the  room  in  which  the  children  are  kept, 
and  one  of  these  three  men,  a  man  in  costume  of 
merchant,  instantly  finds  out  the  girl,  whom  you  have 
accompanied  here  just  now,  to  be  his  own  daughter, 
and  embraces  her  into  his  arms.  He  is  very  glad,  his 
eyes  being  moistened  with  tears  of  joy.  Being  told 
by  the  policeman  that  his  daughter  has  been  relieved 
by  you,  he  comes  to  you,  and,  bowing  very  politely, 
expresses  his  hearty  thanks  for  your  kindness,  at  the 
same  time  apologising  to  the  policeman  for  his 
carelessness,  and  thanking  for  troubles  of  the  police. 
Then  he  goes  out  of  the  police-station,  carrying  his 
little  dear  daughter  in  the  arms. 

Coming  out  of  the  police-station,  you  find  the 
street  still  full  of  the  crowd,  though  it  is  somewhat 
lessened  in  its  density.  On  both  sides  of  the  street 
you  find  many  ice  shops,  which  are  all  full  of  guests. 
In  summer,  streets  of  Tokyo  are  abundant  in  ice 
shops,  which  are  generally  called  the  koriya  and 
supply  glasses  of  ice  for  those  who  wish  to  quench 
thirst  and  avoid  heat.  There  are  several  kinds  of 
these  ice  glasses — the  korimidzu  is  a  glass  in  which 
scraped  ice  is  mixed  with  syrup,  the  yukinohana  or 
"  flower  of  snow  "  is  the  scraped  ice  over  which  white 
sugar  is  fully  sprinkled  ;  glasses  of  ice  flavoured  with 
lemonade,  wine,  orangeade,  cinnamon  oil,  and  boiled 
red  beans  are  called  the  kori-remon,  kori-budo, 

1 10 


FIREWORKS  AT  RYOGOKU 

kormtkan,  kori-nikkei,  and  kori-azuki  respectively. 
Besides  them,  cider,  ice-cream,  and  punch  can  be 
got  here  too,  if  you  please.  These  shops  are 
decorated  with  plants  of  green  leaves,  and  benches 
and  chairs  furnished  around  tables ;  the  waitresses 
are  young  girls  of  nice  complexion,  clad  in  neat 
summer  dresses  tighted  with  a  red  light  belt.  You 
enter  a  shop  to  take  a  rest,  and  order  to  bring  a 
glass  of  ice  -  cream.  The  shop  is  also  filled  with 
guests,  all  on  their  way  home  from  the  fireworks, 
and  the  five  waitresses  are  busy  to  attend  them.  At 
the  table  next  to  yours  there  is  a  group  of  a  family, 
consisting  of  parents,  two  sons,  and  three  daughters, 
who  are  all  taking  glasses  of  the  kori-azuki.  The 
two  boys  carry  a  bundle  of  small  fireworks  for  sport 
in  their  hand,  these  being  the  imitations  of  the 
fireworks  given  in  the  exhibition  of  this  night. 
They  are  sold  in  the  night  stalls  on  the  streets 
near  Ryogoku,  and  attract  the  attention  of  boys 
who  have  come  to  see  the  exhibition.  Boys  who 
have  purchased  the  sport  fireworks  go  home  with 
satisfaction,  and  are  much  pleased  in  anticipating 
how  excellent  an  exhibition  of  beautiful  fires  can 
be  given  in  their  own  yard,  not  inferior  to  those 
shown  at  Ryogoku  in  this  night. 

After  a  repose  of  some  twenty  minutes,  you  leave 
the  ice  shop,  and  go  on  for  the  tram's  halting-place 
near  the  bridge  Asakusa-bashi.  Now  the  confusion 
in  the  street  is  almost  cleared  up,  except  those 
who  do  not  hasten  for  home  and  are  slowly  rambling 
on.  When  you  come  near  the  halting  -  spot,  you 
could  not  help  to  be  surprised  by  finding  a  great 
mass  of  tremendous  number  of  people  standing  by 
the  sides  of  the  track.  They  are  the  visitors  to 
Ryogoku,  and  still  waiting  for  tramcars  by  which 
they  are  to  go  home.  Trams  come  to  the  cross-roads 
here  in  succession  from  four  directions,  and,  being 
filled  up  with  passengers  at  an  instant,  they  run 
away  for  their  destinations.  Yet,  only  one-tenth  of 

in 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

the  whole  mass  being  carried  off,  the  rest  have  to 
wait  still  longer.  Whenever  a  new  tram  arrives 
people  struggle  to  get  ahead  into  it,  and  the  con- 
fusion is  so  terrible  that  they  are  in  the  battlefield, 
and  it  is  very  dangerous  for  the  female  and  children 
to  get  into  any  of  the  cars  till  after  an  hour  or  two. 
You  stand  still  for  about  twenty  minutes  witnessing 
the  bustles  of  the  place,  and  at  last  decide  to  give 
up  the  tram.  Then,  coming  to  a  rikisha  stand  at 
one  corner  of  the  square,  you  hire  a  rikisha  and 
go  home  safely. 


112 


CHAPTER    XI 

AUTUMN   NIGHT 

GENTEEL  persons  of  Tokyo,  including  both  the  male 
and  the  female,  are  fond  of  taking  pleasures  by  listen- 
ing singing-insects  and  looking  moonlight  views  in  the 
autumn  evening.  They  go  out  to  a  certain  grassy 
plain  for  mushi-kiki,  or  to  listen  the  singing-insects ; 
or  to  visit  a  hill  for  tsuki-mi,  or  to  have  moonlight 
views.  Thus  the  mushi-kiki  and  the  tsuki-mi  are 
the  two  refined  enjoyments  of  autumn  for  the  Tokyo 
citizens. 

To  experience  these  elegant  amusements,  you 
leave  your  house  at  about  six  o'clock  in  a  moonlight 
evening  at  the  middle  of  October,  and  come  to  a 
quarter  of  the  Asakusa  district  called  Sanya.  The 
quarter  Sanya  is  the  most  eastern  edge  of  the 
Asukusa  Ward,  limited  by  the  River  Sumida  from 
the  Honjo  quarter,  and  most  of  the  buildings 
standing  along  the  stream  on  the  bank  of  Sanya 
and  its  connected  quarter  Imado  are  the  villas 
of  peers,  high  officials,  and  rich  merchants.  A  canal 
called  the  Sanya -bori,  which  is  opened  in  the 
length  of  about  one  mile  from  a  spot  near  the 
prostitution  quarter  Yoshiwara,  discharges  its  water 
into  the  river  at  the  south  end  of  Imado,  and  there 
is  a  small  hill  named  Matsuchiyama  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  outfall  of  the  canal.  Ascending  the 
stone  steps,  you  come  upon  the  tableland  on  the 
top  of  the  hill,  where  you  find  a  shrine  of  God  Shoden, 
and  one  dozen  of  street  lamps  are  standing  on  the 
both  sides  of  the  pavement  leading  to  the  front  of 

113  H 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

the  shrine.  At  the  interior  of  the  shrine  you  can 
see  the  sacred  altar  of  God  Shoden,  around  which 
more  than  one  hundred  Japanese  candles  with  paper 
wick  are  brilliantly  burning.  A  number  of  men  and 
women  bow  down  before  the  altar  and  are  earnestly 
worshipping  the  god.  Coming  round  to  the  back- 
yard of  the  shrine,  there  you  find  several  stone 
monuments  for  the  famous  Japanese  poets  under 
the  dark  shadow  of  tall  trees,  and,  at  the  east  brink 
of  the  hill,  there  is  an  open  tower  for  prospect 
(chobo-dai),  which  commands  the  whole  views  of  the 
River  Sumida  and  the  long  embankment  of  Mukojima 
under  clear  moonlight.  On  the  tower  a  number 
of  citizens  in  neighbourhood  are  gossiping  and 
enjoying  the  fine  views  of  this  evening. 

After  a  few  minutes  you  leave  the  tower  and 
descend  the  hill,  then  come  to  the  ferry  (wata- 
shiba)  near  by  the  mouth  of  the  Sanyabori  Canal. 
The  ferry  is  very  famous  under  the  popular  name 
of  the  Takeya-not  watashi,  and  it  is  done  with  a 
small  Japanese  boat  rowed  by  a  boatman  to  cross 
the  River  Sumida  from  the  side  of  Sanya  to  the 
opposite  bank  of  Mukojima.  We  are  told  that  in 
old  times  profligates  were  very  fond  of  visiting 
Yoshiwara  by  rowing  up  the  canal  with  a  small  boat 
called  choki  from  this  point  of  the  river,  and  that 
they  could  easily  arrive  at  the  Great  Gate  (O-mon) 
by  landing  from  the  boat  at  a  spot  of  the  bank 
called  the  Hatcho  Dote.  You  now  get  into  a  boat 
which  is  bound  up  with  a  rope  to  a  post  of  small 
pier,  and  find  three  men  and  one  woman  there  in 
the  boat.  Waiting  some  five  minutes,  there  appears 
an  old  boatman  from  a  small  cottage  on  the  bank  ;  he 
cries  out,  "  Deru  yd  !  "  ("  The  boat  is  leaving  !  "),  and, 
standing  on  the  stern  of  the  boat,  is  looking  out 
any  persons  to  come.  At  this  moment  sound  of 
running  footsteps  can  be  heard  near  the  bank,  and 
a  young  man  and  a  girl  appear  and  jump  into  the 
boat. 

114 


AUTUMN  NIGHT 

Now  the  boat  leaves  the  bank,  and  is  slowly  rowed 
out  towards  the  middle  of  the  stream.     The  clear 
light  of  the  autumn  moon  in  the  high  blue  sky  shines 
upon  the  ripples  of  the   gentle  stream,  and  throws 
the  shadows  of  the  boatman  and  passengers  at  the 
bottom  of  the  boat.     Looking  to  the  lower  waters  to 
the  south,  a  long  iron   bridge,  Azuma-bashi,  across 
the  river,  can  be  dimly  seen  in  the  fog,  and,  on  the  long 
dike  of  Mukojima,  on  the  opposite  side  to  the  Sanya 
quarter,  a  long,  long  row  of  cherry-trees  is  standing 
high  like  a  thick  wood  covering  the  sky  to  the  east. 
At  times  two  or  three  cargo-boats  come  rowing  up 
and  down  the  river,  crossing  the  route  of  your  boat 
near  the  bow  or  stern.     When  in  daytime,  and  here 
and  there  on  the  river,  you  can  find  groups  of  small 
beautiful  white  birds,  some  swimming  on  the  waters 
and  some  flying  in  the  air — they  are  oyster-catchers, 
popularly  called  the  Miyako-dori  (Birds  of  the  City) 
by  the  citizens  of  Tokyo.     You  strike  a  match  and 
begin  to  smoke.     The  young  man  who  have  come 
latest  into  the  boat,  accompanied  by  a  damsel,  asks 
you  to  lend  the  match,  and,  handing  it  up  to  him, 
you  try  to  speak  him  :  "  Where  are  you  going,  sir  ?  " 
"  We  are  going  home,"  replies  the  young  fellow.   "  This 
is  my  sister ;  we  have  been  to  Asakusa  Park  to  see 
the  shows   there."     "Then  you  live  in  Mukojima?" 
you  say  again.     "  I  envy  you  to  have  a  home  in  such 
an  elegant  and  quiet  quarter  of  the  city  !  "     "  Yes,  my 
house  is  in  a  part  of  Mukojima  called  Terashima,  and 
I  am  a  gardener."     "  Do  you  live  together  with  your 
parents  and  sister  ?  "     "  Yes,  my  father  is  a  gardener 
too,  but  now  very  old,  and  my  sister  is  employed  as  a 
waitress  in  the  restaurant  Irikin  here."     Turning  to 
the  girl,  the  sister  of  the  young  gardener,  who  is  very 
pretty   and  some  eighteen  years  old,  you  begin  to 
address :   "  Do  you  live  in  Irikin,  neisan  (miss)  ?  I  often 
visit  the  restaurant,  but  have  never  seen  you  hitherto. 
When  have  you  come  to  the  house  ?  This  evening  I 
am  going  to  visit  the  Hyakka-yen  (the  famous  flower- 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

garden  at  Mukojima)  to  see  the  moonlight  views  and 
hear  insect-singing  there.  The  garden  is  situated 
next  to  your  restaurant,  and  do  you  know  any  news 
about  the  garden  in  this  autumn  ?  "  Being  suddenly 
spoken  to  by  a  stranger,  she  appears  to  be  a  little 
perplexed,  but  at  once  resuming  herself,  replies  very 
politely :  "  I  first  came  to  Irikin  at  the  beginning  of 
the  last  month,  sir.  This  morning  I  have  been  told 
that,  at  the  Hyakka-yen  garden,  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  Mushi-hanachi-kai  (the  Meeting  of  Setting 
Insects  Free)  will  be  held  for  three  evenings  from 
this  day,  and  visitors  welcomed  by  its  members." 
The  Mushi-hanachi-kai  is  an  interesting  meeting 
held  at  the  flower-garden  in  the  nights  of  every 
autumn,  and  the  members  who  assemble  to  the  garden 
have  duty  to  bring  singing  -  insects ;  they  set  them 
free  into  the  bushes  of  the  garden,  and  make  enjoy- 
ment by  listening  their  songs.  "  I  am  very  lucky," 
say  you,  "to  meet  this  unexpected  occasion  of  the 
meeting  this  night."  The  three  other  men  in  the 
boat  tell  you  that  they  are  going  to  attend  the  meet- 
ing too,  and  each  of  them  shows  you  a  small  paper 
bag  in  which  insects  are  hold  —  they  are  regular 
members  of  the  meeting. 

In  the  meantime  the  boat  arrives  at  the  landing- 
spot  under  the  bank  of  Mukojima,  and,  after  paying 
the  fare  to  the  boatsman,  you,  as  well  as  the  other 
passengers,  get  on  the  bank.  You  find  the  road  on 
the  embankment  crowded  with  people,  and  under- 
stand that  they  are  all  going  to  attend  the  meeting  of 
the  Mushi-hanachi-kai.  Looking  to  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  the  moonlight  sky  over  the  Asakusa  Park 
is  glowing  with  the  illuminations  of  the  shows,  and  the 
five-story  tower  of  the  Asakusa  Temple  and  the  dark 
wood  of  the  Matsuchiyama  Hill  are  distinctly,  seen, 
like  a  relief  against  the  sky,  high  above  the  rows  of 
roofs.  The  long  embankment  of  Mukojima  is  about 
ten  yards  wide,  its  western  side  being  washed  by  the 
water  of  the  River  Sumida,  and  the  plain  land  to  the 

116 


AUTUMN  NIGHT 

east,  far  below  the  bank,  spread  with  the  streets  of 
Terashima  and  Komme,  here  and  there  scattered  with 
rice-fields.  The  road  upon  the  embankment  makes 
a  very  long  avenue  of  cherry-trees,  as  far  as  it  is 
extended  in  length  of  more  than  seven  miles ;  thus 
Mukqjima  is  one  of  the  noted  places  in  the  capital  for 
cherry  blossoms  in  every  spring. 

It  is  about  one  mile  distant  from  the  landing-place 
of  the  ferry  to  the  flower-garden.  On  the  way  to  the 
garden  there  is  a  famous  shop  of  the  kototoi-dango 
at  a  turn  of  the  bank ;  the  dango  is  a  kind  of  cake 
similar  to  dumpling,  and  the  title  kototoi  (enquiring) 
is  derived  from  a  phrase  of  the  old  celebrated  song 
sung  by  Narihira  Ariwara,  a  peer  in  ancient  times. 
The  whole  song  runs  as  follows  : — 

"  Nanishi  owaba  4 

Iza  koto-toivan 
Miyako-dori, 
Waga  Omohito  iva 
Atiy a  nashiya  to" 

["  Your  name  is  the  Bird  of  City  (oyster-catcher)  ; 
I  enquire  you  whether  my  sweetheart  in  the 
city  is  still  living  or  not."] 

It  is  said  the  song  was  sung  by  the  handsome 
young  peer  when  he  came  to  the  bank  on  his  way 
back  from  a  long  journey  and  saw  the  oyster-birds 
on  the  river. 

Though  there  are  many  kinds  of  the  dango  cake  in 
Tokyo,  the  kototoi-dango  is  most  popular  among 
citizens  for  its  excellent  taste,  and  on  Sundays  and 
holidays  all  the  rooms  of  the  shop  are  always  crowded 
with  guests.  As  it  is  night  now,  the  shop  is  shut  up, 
and  the  light  of  lamps  can  be  seen  through  the 
doors.  Stepping  on  some  twenty  yards  farther  you 
come  to  the  front  of  a  large  bath-restaurant  called  the 
Taiyo  kaku  (the  Sun  Hall).  The  hall  is  built  with 
wood  in  the  European  style  and  its  entrance  brilliantly 
illumined  with  electric  lights.  You  can  see  the 

117 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

visitors  coming  in  and  out  of  the  entrance,  and  the 
sound  of  samisen  and  the  noise  of  laughter  can  be 
heard  from  the  rooms  of  a  large  two-story  building 
standing  connected  to  the  right  side  of  the  entrance. 
The  hall  is  noted  for  its  spacious  bathroom,  and  the 
bath-box  in  the  room  is  so  wide  that  it  can  easily 
hold  more  than  two  hundred  persons  all  at  once. 

On  the  road  you  often  meet  groups  of  three  or 
five  girls  of  the  lower  class,  and  they  are  spinners 
of  the  Kanegafuchi  Cotton  Factory,  situated  at  the 
north  end  of  the  embankment  of  Mukojima.  Along 
the  right  side  of  the  narrow  road,  below  the  dike, 
you  can  see  a  row  of  small  two-story  houses,  in 
which  the  singing-girls  belonging  to  the  circle  of 
the  so-called  Mukojima  Geisha  are  living.  When 
you  arrive  at  the  gate  of  the  Hyakka-yen  Garden, 
it  is  now  eight  o'clock.  On  one  side  of  the  road,  in 
front  of  the  gate,  stalls  of  insect  sellers  make  a  row 
to  meet  the  demand  of  the  visitors  to  this  night's 
meeting,  and  the  singing  voices  of  various  insects 
can  be  heard  from  the  bamboo  cages  on  the  stalls. 
Those  who  do  not  bring  the  insects  from  home 
buy  one  or  two  bags  of  insects  at  these  stalls,  and 
you  too  take  a  bag  by  paying  a  silver  coin  of 
twenty  sen.  As  you  are  not  a  member  of  the 
meeting,  you  have  to  purchase  a  ticket  for  admis- 
sion and  then  pass  into  the  gate. 

The  Hyakka-yen,  which  means  "The  Garden  of 
Hundred  Flowers,"  is  a  very  old  flower-garden,  since 
the  time  of  the  Tokugawa  Shogunate,  and  very 
famous  for  its  cultivation  of  flowers  and  plants 
through  all  seasons.  If  anybody  visits  the  garden, 
and  sees  abundant  kinds  of  beautiful  flowers  at  any 
time  throughout  the  year,  he  would  understand  that 
Japan  is  well  called  "  The  Land  of  Flowers."  Now, 
as  it  is  autumn,  the  whole  garden  is  decorated  with 
fine  flowers  of  the  fall  season,  these  flowering  plants 
being  well  known  by  the  popular  name  of  the  Aki 
no  Nana-kusa  (Seven  flowering  Plants  of  Autumn). 

118 


AUTUMN  NIGHT 

In  the  spaces  among  these  plantations,  tables,  chairs, 
and  benches  are  properly  arranged,  and  the  round 
or  square  coloured  paper  lanterns  are  lighted  above 
the  tables,  under  the  arbours  of  evening  glory,  and 
in  the  summer-houses.  In  the  flower-beds  more 
than  three  hundred  larger  lanterns,  covered  with 
square  or  hexagonal  paper  mantles  beautifully 
painted  in  red,  blue,  and  green,  are  shining  high 
above  the  poles.  Besides  these  large  and  small 
paper  lanterns,  bonfires  are  burnt  at  several  parts 
of  the  garden.  About  the  centre  of  the  garden 
there  is  a  large  oblong  pond,  in  which  there  are 
growing  several  kinds  of  aquatic  plants — such  as 
lotus,  reed,  rush,  kohone,  etc.,  and  along  the  circum- 
ference of  the  pond  long  tunnels  of  bush-clovers 
(or  lespedeza)  are  constructed,  their  in  and  out 
sides  being  covered  with  the  red  and  white  pretty 
flowerets  of  the  plant.  Near  the  beds  of  flowers 
or  bushes  of  plants,  and  just  under  the  large  paper 
lanterns,  you  find  groups  of  people  standing  or 
crouching  here  and  there,  and  they  are  listening 
songs  of  insects  which  they  have  let  go  on  the 
leaves  of  the  plants.  You  note  a  number  of  young 
girls  all  crouching  before  a  thick  bush  of  cockscombs 
and  other  plants  and  whispering  each  other :  "  I  let 
go  six  suzumushi  (insects  singing  with  sound  like 
a  golden  bell),"  says  the  youngest  girl,  of  some  eleven 
years  of  age.  "Do  you  think  they  have  begun  to 
sing  ?  "  "I  put  in  four  matsumushi  and  six  suzumushi 
a  short  time  ago,"  replies  another  girl  of  fifteen  or 
sixteen,  "  and  they  seem  to  be  singing  now,  together 
with  your  suzumushi"  The  latter  raises  high  up 
a  small  round  red  paper  lantern,  which  she  carries 
in  her  hand,  and  all  girls  are  earnestly  peeping  into 
the  bush. 

High  up  on  a  pillar,  near  the  entrance  to  the 
house  of  the  master  of  the  garden,  there  hangs  a 
special  square  paper  lantern,  and  the  notice,  "  Please 
take  a  cup  of  tea,  and,  if  you  please,  pickled  prunes 

119 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

can  be  served,"  is  written  upon  the  white  paper 
of  the  lantern.  A  part  of  the  house  fronting  to  the 
garden  is  opened  in  the  form  of  a  shop,  where  the 
earthen  wares  baked  in  the  furnace  of  the  garden 
and  well  known  as  the  Sumida-wares  are  sold  by 
the  gardeners.  The  shop  is  crowded  with  customers, 
who  purchase  cups,  bottles,  bowls,  or  plates,  all  of 
a  refined  and  characteristic  style.  Wherever  the 
visitors  take  their  seats,  in  summer-houses  or  by 
the  tables  in  the  garden,  young  maid-servants  bring 
the  tea-service  and  a  plate  of  cakes.  On  a  pretty 
high  land  along  the  north  side  of  the  garden  there 
are  three  buildings,  each  of  which  contains  two  or 
three  rooms,  and  these  rooms  are  appointed  for 
the  resting-place  of  the  regular  members  of  the 
Mushi-hanachi-kai.  The  buildings  being  of  the 
pure  Japanese  style,  the  candles  are  used  instead  of 
the  electric  or  gas  lights.  Now  almost  all  the 
rooms  are  occupied  by  the  male  and  female  members, 
and  most  of  them  taking  refreshments  —  men 
smoke  or  drink  sake,  and  ladies  take  tea  and  cake. 
You  are  convinced  how  noble  and  elegant  amuse- 
ment it  is  to  listen  songs  of  insects  under  the  silvery 
moonlight  of  quiet  autumn.  The  insects  which  are 
esteemed  by  the  members  as  singers  in  autumn  are 
suzumushi  (homesgryllus  japonicus),  matumushi, 
korogi  (crickets),  kutsuwa-musht,  and  kanetatakai,  and 
besides  them,  kajika  (singing-frogs),  which  live  in 
the  water,  are  favourites  for  the  lovers  of  singing- 
insects  too. 

The  later  grows  it  in  the  night,  the  more  strained 
is  the  music  of  insects  at  every  part  of  the  garden  ; 
men-servants  of  the  garden  are  taking  care  to  burn 
the  bonfire  brighter,  and  the  maid-servants  running 
about  to  serve  tea  to  all  the  tables  crowded  with 
visitors.  Old  poets  among  the  visitors  are  pleased 
to  compose  Japanese  poems  and  write  them  down 
on  tanzaku  (Japanese  poem  paper)  and  ladies  com- 
pare and  criticise  the  notes  of  singing  of  insects  here 

1 20 


AUTUMN  NIGHT 

and  there,  most  of  the  guests  in  the  garden  staying 
till  about  midnight.  When  you  are  about  to  leave 
the  garden  a  small  round  paper  lantern  is  presented 
by  the  master  of  the  garden  as  a  souvenir  of  the 
meeting  in  this  night,  and  on  the  white  paper  of 
the  lantern  the  sign  "  Mushi-hanachi-kai "  can  be 
read. 

People  in  Tokyo,  as  well  as  in  all  local  provinces, 
admire  the  fine  views  under  the  clear  light  of  the 
full  moon  in  the  evening  of  the  I5th  August 
(Lunar  Calendar),  and  the  celebration  for  the  moon 
in  this  night  seems  to  have  been  derived  in  ancient 
times  from  the  habit  of  China.  It  is  our  custom 
that  to  the  full  moon  of  the  night  we  offer  a  square 
wooden  stand  called  the  sambo^  on  which  leaves  of 
the  susuki  plant,  dango  cake,  beans  in  pods  on 
branches,  persimons,  chestnuts,  and  grapes  are  heaped 
up  in  good  arrangement,  and,  gathering  around  the 
stand,  the  whole  family  of  the  house  open  the  dinner 
and  admire  the  fine  views  under  moonlight.  Those 
who  wish  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  this  night  in  the 
open  air  go  to  Atago  Hill,  bluff  of  Kudan,  tablelands 
of  the  shrines  Yushima  Tenjin  and  Kanda  Myojin, 
Uyeno  Park,  or  sea-shores  of  Shinagawa,  Shibaura, 
Takanawa,  and  Susaki — all  these  places  being  best 
suited  for  looking  over  the  moonlight  views;  while 
some  go  in  boats  to  the  River  Sumida  or  the  Bay  of 
Tokyo,  taking  the  pleasure  of  angling  or  netting  at 
the  same  time. 

As  to  the  places  in  Tokyo  noted  for  singing-insects 
in  autumn  nights,  we  can  point  out  the  following : — 

The  grounds  of  the  Mimeguri  Shrine  at  Mukojima 
is  situated  on  the  opposite  side  over  the  dike  to 
the  landing-place  of  the  ferry  of  Takeya,  and,  the 
shrine  being  surrounded  with  the  thick  woods  and 
bushes,  insects  are  abundant  every  autumn  here. 

The  Dokanyama  Hill  is  a  very  famous  place  for 
insects  from  ancient  times.  The  foot  of  the  hill 

121 


THE   NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

being  bordered  with  a  clear  stream,  insects  live  here 
in  abundance,  and  if  you  leave  the  Uyeno  train  at 
the  Tabata  Station  and  come  up  to  the  hill,  you  can 
indulge  yourself  in  the  pleasure  of  listening  the  sweet 
music  of  the  pretty  insects. 

Ikegami  and  Ohmori. — Twenty  minutes  from  the 
Shimbashi  Station  you  can  arrive  at  the  pine  avenue 
of  Ohmori,  and  the  vicinity  of  the  old  place  of 
execution  called  Suzugamori  under  the  Tokugawa 
Government  is  very  popular  among  the  visitors  for 
singing  -  insects  in  this  quarter.  About  one  mile 
west  to  Ohmori  there  is  Ikegami,  which  is  noted 
for  the  site  of  the  Hommonji,  the  Head  Temple  of  the 
Nichiren  Sect,  and  a  large  building  on  a  hill  next 
to  the  temple  is  the  famous  bath-hotel  called  the 
Akebono-ro.  In  autumn,  if  you  pass  a  night  in  a 
quiet  room  of  the  hotel,  you  can  fully  understand 
the  taste  of  pleasure  for  the  so-called  aki-no-mushi- 
no-ne  (insect-singing  in  autumn  night). 

With  regard  to  the  singing-frogs  (kajikd),  there 
are  good  places  special  for  them,  and  the  vicinity 
of  the  River  Tamagawa  is  said  to  be  the  best  quarter 
in  Tokyo.  Fujikawa,  in  Suruga  Province,  and  Kamo- 
gawa,  in  Kyoto,  are  the  two  rivers  where  the  best 
kind  of  the  singing-frogs  is  produced. 


122 


CHAPTER  XII 

MARKETS  NEAR  THE  END  OF  A  YEAR 

APPROACHING  the  end  of  a  year,  the  markets  called 
"  Toshi-no-ichi " — the  year's  end  markets — are  annu- 
ally opened  at  the  certain  quarters  of  the  city,  each 
at  an  appointed  date,  and  the  citizens  go  to  them 
to  make  preparations  for  the  coming  New  Year. 
Most  of  these  markets  are  situated  on  and  around 
the  compound  of  great  and  famous  shrines  or 
temples.  The  Torinomachi  is  a  market  for  the 
festival  of  the  god  Great  Eagle,  whose  shrine  "stands 
just  behind  the  nightless  quarter  of  Yoshiwara,  and 
opened  twice  or  thrice  in  November,  according  to 
the  circumstances  ;  those  markets  at  the  shrine  of 
God  Hachiman  at  Fukagawa,  the  Asakusa  Temple, 
the  shrine  of  God  Myqjin  at  Kanda,  the  Atago 
Shrine  at  Shiba,  the  Hirakawa  Tenjin  Shrine  at 
Kojimachi,  the  shrine  of  Yushima  Tenjin  at  Kongo, 
the  Fudo  Temple  at  Ryogoku,  the  West  Street  of 
Kyobashi,  and  the  Oyokocho  Street  at  Kojimachi 
are  all  held  in  December. 

The  Torinomachi,  or  the  Festival  Market  for  God 
of  Great  Eagle,  is  held  on  the  days  of  Tori  (cock) 
in  November.  In  Japan  the  horary  characters  are 
applied  to  each  day  of  a  year,  and  those  twelve 
signs  are  the  Rat,  the  Bull,  the  Tiger,  the  Rabbit, 
the  Dragon,  the  Serpent,  the  Horse,  the  Goat,  the 
Monkey,  the  Cock,  the  Dog,  and  the  Boar.  Thus, 
in  November  of  a  year  sometimes  there  are  two 

123 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

cock  days  or  three,  according  to  the  case,  and  all 
these  cock  days  in  this  month  are  taken  for  the 
festival  days  of  the  god  Great  Eagle.  The  god 
Eagle  is  respected  to  be  a  god  of  luck,  and,  if  a 
person  worships  the  god  devotedly,  he  is  said  to 
be  blessed  with  great  riches ;  consequently  citizens 
of  Tokyo — merchants  among  the  others — visit  the 
shrine  on  the  festival  day  every  year,  and  pray  to 
get  the  bliss  of  the  god  for  the  next  year.  In 
November  of  this  year  (1913)  the  I2th  and  the 
24th  correspond  to  the  Cock  Day,  and  the  festival 
market  of  the  Torinomachi  is  to  be  held  on  these 
two  days.  The  gate  of  the  shrine  of  God  Eagle  is 
to  be  opened  at  the  moment  when  the  drum  is 
beaten  at  the  midnight  of  the  nth,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  market  on  the  first  Festival  Day  (the 
1 2th)  begun  flourishingly  on  a  large  scale.  The 
shrine  is  situated  about  one  hundred  yards  west 
to  Yoshiwara;  and  as  all  seven  side  gates  of  the 
Nightless  City  are  temporarily  opened  on  the 
market  day,  while  the  Front  Gate  (O-mon)  is  the 
only  one  passage  to  the  quarter  in  ordinary  days, 
and  all  brothels  and  prostitutes  make  full  decora- 
tions to  charm  guests,  people  pour  in  crowds  to  all 
the  streets  by  the  way  of  visiting  the  shrine  and 
market. 

At  eleven  in  the  night  of  the  nth  you  take  a 
tram  which  runs  the  street  of  Sakamoto  under  the 
hill  of  Uyeno  Park,  and  arrive  at  the  quarter  named 
the  Senzoku-machi  in  which  the  Great  Eagle  Shrine 
stands ;  all  the  streets  and  side  streets  leading  to 
the  shrine  are  already  full  of  streams  of  visitors,  so 
that  you  cannot  go  on  freely  as  you  please,  and  are 
compelled  to  march  towards  the  shrine  following 
the  waves  of  people.  The  visitors  consist  of  men, 
women,  boys,  and  girls,  but  more  than  one-half  of 
them  are  those  belonging  to  the  commercial  circle. 
Approaching  gradually  to  the  shrine,  the  crowds 
become  denser,  and  you  find  on  the  both  sides  of 

124 


MARKETS  NEAR  END   OF   YEAR 

the  streets  the  rows  of  shops  and  stalls  which  are 
prepared  to  sell  kumade  (bamboo  rakes),  imo  (taro), 
and  goshiki-mochi  (rice-cake  in  five  colours),  these 
three  things  being  necessary  appendages  for  the 
festival  of  the  god  Eagle.  The  kumade^  or  bamboo 
rakes,  are  the  rakes  made  of  bamboo  pieces  and 
attached  with  a  long  bamboo  shaft,  and  on  the 
front  side  of  the  rake  the  symbols  of  various  articles, 
all  of  which  represent  luck  and  fortune,  are  tied 
up :  on  a  large  rake  a  takarabune  made  of  painted 
pieces  of  paper  is  attached.  The  takarabune  is  a 
treasure  boat  on  which  the  so-called  Seven  Gods 
of  Luck  are  embarked,  and  by  the  side  of  these 
gods  a  heap  of  old  gold  coins,  large  branches  of 
coral,  dresses  woven  of  gold  and  silver  thread,  and 
many  other  precious  articles,  are  loaded  in.  On 
another  there  is  attached  a  large  mask  of  Okame 
(a  face  of  a  happy,  smiling  maiden),  which  is  said 
a  symbol  of  riches  and  happiness ;  or  a  large  dice, 
bales  of  rice,  daybooks,  and  koban  (ancient  oval 
gold  coins)  are  swinging  from  one  side  of  a  rake — 
of  course  all  of  these  articles  being  the  imitation 
of  papier-mache.  These  bamboo  rakes  themselves 
are  valued  as  the  symbols  of  implements  for  collect- 
ing riches,  and  the  visitors  to  the  shrine  buy  them, 
hoping  to  scrape  together  the  treasures  and  riches 
with  them  for  the  next  year. 

When  you  could  come  near  the  gate  of  the  shrine, 
now  it  is  ten  minutes  to  twelve,  and  the  doors  are 
still  shut  fast ;  but  as  they  are  to  be  opened  after  a 
few  minutes,  the  grand  mass  of  visitors  crammed  up 
before  the  gate,  as  well  as  in  the  streets  leading  to 
it,  are  pressed  up  so  densely  that  nobody  could  move 
himself  even  an  inch  with  his  own  will,  only  the 
mass  itself  shaking  like  waves  in  the  ocean.  Women 
and  children  are  almost  to  be  suffocated,  some  of 
them  crying  and  yelling  for  help.  The  stalls  near 
by  the  gate  are  in  danger  to  be  crushed  down  by 
pressure  of  the  crowds,  and  the  merchants  are  in  a 

125 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

state  of  craziness,  making  efforts  to  defend  their  own 
shops  against  the  attack  of  human  breakers.  In  the 
meantime  dong-dong  (successive  sounds  of  beating)  of 
the  drum  reports  the  midnight,  or  the  first  moment 
of  the  1 2th  November,  and  the  gate  doors  are  at 
once  wide  opened  to  the  right  and  left.  At  the 
instant  the  waves  of  human  beings  stream  into  the 
inside  of  the  gate,  and  the  wide  front  yard  of  the 
shrine  is  immediately  crammed  up  with  men,  those 
left  outside  of  the  gate  pressing  upon  to  enter  the 
gate  as  before. 

The  great  front  shrine  of  the  god  Eagle  is  brilliant 
with  thousands  of  candle  lights,  and,  in  the  inner- 
most room  of  the  main  building,  the  god  Eagle 
is  honoured  with  holy  offerings  and  decorations. 
People  throw  copper,  nickel,  or  silver  coins  into  a 
large  square  alms-chest  fixed  at  the  front  of  the 
shrine,  and  are  earnestly  praying  for  their  fortune ; 
these  moneys  of  offertory  pour  like  rain  into  the 
chest,  and  people  clap  their  hands  or  ring  bells 
(suzu}  before  they  worship.  There  hang  at  the 
eaves  of  the  shrine  a  number  of  the  suzu,  or  large 
ball-shaped  brass  bells,  which  are  rung  by  pulling 
long  cords  made  of  white,  red,  and  yellow  twisted 
pieces  of  cloth  and  attached  to  each  of  the  bells. 

To  the  right  side  of  the  shrine  there  is  a  large 
building,  whose  front  is  entirely  opened,  decorated 
with  large  purple  crape  curtains  and  large  paper 
lanterns,  and  a  dozen  of  men  are  sitting  down  by 
large  desks.  It  is  the  amulet  office,  and  the  amulets 
of  the  god  Eagle  are  issued  here.  Those  super- 
stitious citizens  believe  that  one  who  could  get  the 
first  or  No.  I  Amulet  on  this  morning  is  the  most 
fortunate  fellow  for  the  next  year,  and  those  who 
have  finished  the  prayers  to  the  god  first  come  to 
the  office,  pushing  and  struggling  to  receive  the 
amulets  as  quickly  as  possible.  Amulets  prepared 
for  this  night  are  told  to  have  amounted  to  thirty 
thousand  pieces,  and,  besides,  eight  thousand  fuku- 

126 


MARKETS    NEAR  END   OF   YEAR 

bukuro  (bags  of  luck),  and  three  thousand  tori-koban 
(imitation  of  ancient  gold  coins  with  the  sign  of 
God  Eagle),  are  said  to  have  been  sold  out  at  the 
office. 

After  worshipping  the  shrine,  you  hardly  come 
out  of  the  gate  and  push  forward  among  the  press- 
ing crowd  for  the  back  side  of  the  Yoshiwara  city. 
Both  sides  of  the  narrow  street  leading  from  the 
shrine  to  the  back  gate  of  the  compound  of  the 
Nightless  City  are  also  full  of  rows  of  the  kumade- 
ya  (rake  stalls),  and  your  ears  are  almost  deafened 
by  the  cries  of  merchants  inviting  guests,  mixed 
with  yells  and  noises  of  pressing  visitors  to 
the  shrine.  At  a  turning  of  the  road,  where 
three  policemen  guard  against  the  great  bustle, 
raising  the  police  lanterns  high  over  the  heads  of 
the  crowd,  a  great  whirlpool  of  the  human  waves 
takes  place,  and  all  men  and  women  approach- 
ing the  spot  are  swallowed  up  into  it;  and  even 
the  policemen  themselves  could  not  act  at  their 
own  will,  and  are  fallen  into  danger  almost  to  be 
swept  away  together  with  the  rapid.  The  female 
in  agony  of  pressure  scream  for  help,  and  those 
small  shops  of  oranges  and  rakes  near  by  the  turn- 
ing are  at  the  peril  of  being  crushed  down.  You 
hardly  cross  over  the  whirlpool  and  could  reach 
the  back  gate  of  Yoshiwara.  You  find  two  women 
there  too,  one  pretty  old  and  the  other  young,  and 
the  panting  younger  speaks  to  the  other  :  "  Indeed, 
I  could  hardly  escape  from  the  great  pressure,  other- 
wise I  would  have  been  crushed  to  death."  "  I 
lost  my  purse,"  complains  the  other,  "  and  am  much 
troubled  how  to  buy  a  kumade  this  morning."  "A 
loss  of  little  money  is  nothing  for  us,"  rejoins  the 
young  maid,  "  we  were  about  to  lose  our  life ! " 
Then  they  go  into  the  iron  gate  and  disappear  into 
throngs  in  the  brothel  street.  Following  them,  you 
come  to  the  background  of  the  Yoshiwara  Hospital. 
At  one  corner  of  the  space  you  find  a  show  of 

127 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

chrysanthemum  flowers  in  a  temporary  enclosure 
built  of  boards  and  bamboos,  and  its  front  entrance 
is  full  of  people  on  the  way  to  and  back  from  the 
Eagle  shrine. 

The  Yoshiwara  Hospital  is  specially  built  for  the 
girls  in  the  quarter,  and  they  have  to  receive  the 
doctor's  examination  once  a  week.  If  any  of  them 
is  found  to  be  sick,  she  is  at  once  taken  to  the 
hospital  and  detained  there  until  she  is  recovered. 
We  are  told  that  twenty  or  thirty  patients  are 
always  found  in  the  hospital  at  any  season  of  a 
year.  It  is  a  square  two  -  story  building  in  the 
European  style,  painted  in  white.  In  contrast  to 
the  bustling  scenes  throughout  the  quarter  and  its 
vicinity,  the  hospital  is  dark  and  shut  up ;  while 
the  girls  outside  are  gay  and  busy  in  this  night 
of  the  Eagle  Festival,  the  poor  wretches  in  the 
hospital  are  disappointed  and  grumbling  in  their 
dark  rooms. 

Coming  out  of  the  ground  you  come  to  the  cross 
of  the  Kyomachi  Street,  which  is  full  of  wanderers, 
most  of  them  carrying  large  and  small  kuniade  on 
their  shoulders.  Near  the  front  entrance  of  the 
largest  house,  Kadoebiro,  people  are  crowded  to 
see  the  exhibition  of  tsumiyagu,  which  is  a  suit 
of  new  beddings  arranged  and  heaped  high  up 
in  the  front  room.  It  is  an  old  custom  in  the 
circle  that  the  most  prosperous  girls  are  proud 
to  have  a  new  suit  of  their  own  beddings  made  by 
their  customers,  and  show  it  publicly  in  an  open 
room  of  the  house  in  the  night  of  the  Torino- 
machi.  These  costly  beddings  are  generally  made 
of  satin,  damask,  crape,  and  velvet,  all  of  red  colour, 
wadded  with  snow  -  white  cotton,  and  the  surface 
of  the  thick  over  -  bedclothes  is  ornamented  with 
figures  embroidered  with  gold  thread.  These 
tsumiyagu  could  be  found  at  those  other  larger 
houses — Shinagawaro,  Daimonjiro,  and  Inamato-ro 
too.  Passing  through  the  throngs  of  the  Nakanocho 

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MARKETS  NEAR  END   OF  YEAR 

(Guide  House  Street  or  Central  Street),  you  get 
out  of  the  inside  of  the  quarter  and  come  to  a  street 
of  the  Senzoku  -  machi,  occupied  with  the  stalls  of 
kumade  (rakes)  here  too. 

At  one  stall  there  stands  a  gentleman  clad  in  the 
Japanese  cloak  called  the  niju-mawashi.     He  enquires 
the  price  of  a  kumade,  and  the  lively  young  stall- 
keeper   comes   out   to   the   side   of  the   gentleman. 
" This  kumade  costs  five  yen"  the  young  man  says, 
"and  is  a  very  excellent  make  among  others,  sir." 
"  What,  five  yen  ?  "  says  the  gentleman,  wondering  ; 
"it   is   rather   a   small   and   simple   one.     I    cannot 
understand  why  so  much  price  is  requested  for  such 
a  small  rake ! "      "  Sir,  kumade  is  a  thing  of  luck. 
It  is  the  beginning  of  the  first  Torinomachi  Festival 
this  morning,  and,  if  you  get  a  new  rake  the  earlier, 
the  better  would  be  your  fortune  in  the  next  year. 
Five  yen   is   not  dear  for  the  fresh  one,  and  don't 
hesitate  to  grasp  your  luck,  please."     "  You  are  very 
wise,  but  I  cannot  pay  more  than  one  yen  for  this 
kumade"     "  What,  only  one  yen  ?  you  say  nonsense  ! 
Better  go  to  other  stalls!"     When  the  gentleman 
was  leaving  the   stall   the  keeper   again  calls  after 
him  and  tries  to  consult  about  the  bargain.     "You 
set  a  too  low  price  for  the  kumade"  says  the  young 
fellow,  "  I  will  come  down  to  three  yen,  as  I   wish 
to  carry  on  my  business  quickly  and  smoothly  on 
the  morning  of  the  first  festival  day  of  God  Eagle." 
"  No,"    the    gentleman    insists,   shaking    his    head ; 
"  I'm  sure  one  yen  is  quite  enough,  and  I  don't  want 
it  unless  you  reduce  to  my  price."     He  is  going  away 
from  the  stall  again.     After  a  long  discussion  further, 
the  kumade,  which  was  offered  by  the  merchant  to 
cost  five  yen,  is  at  last  bought  by  the  gentleman  at 
the  reduced  price  of  only  one  and  a  half  J^TZ,  less 
than  one-third  of  that  of  the  first  announcement ! 

Besides  a  great  number  of  the  kumade  stalls, 
there  are  shops  and  stalls  of  hairpins,  boiled  yam, 
persimon,  cake  called  the  kirisansho  and  mochi  (rice- 

129  I 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

cake)  in  five  colours  and  cut  in  rhombic  shape ;  all 
these  keepers  of  shops  and  stalls  are  crying  out  like 
lunatics  to  call  the  purchasers. 

It  is  now  near  dawn,  and  you  get  farther  on  along 
the  street.  At  the  front  entrance  of  a  beef-shop 
you  find  many  large  and  small  kumade,  regularly 
arranged  against  the  windows  and  wall,  all  these 
being  of  the  guests  who  are  now  taking  breakfast 
in  this  shop.  This  morning  you  would  find  such 
shows  of  bamboo  rakes  at  the  front  of  every  eating- 
house  near  the  shrine  of  God  Eagle,  the  Yoshiwara, 
and  Park  Asakusa ;  for  small  restaurants  and  shops 
of  beef,  fry,  beancurd,  or  oyster  and  clam,  are  visited 
by  people  on  their  way  back  from  the  Torinomachi, 
and  the  kumade  which  have  been  carried  by  these 
guests  are  all  put  in  charge  of  the  shop  and  arranged 
in  front  of  the  entrance.  Each  shop  competes  for 
the  abundance  of  guests,  and  is  proud  if  the  greater 
number  of  rakes  are  ostentatiously  shown  in  its 
front. 

You  cross  Park  Asakusa,  where  all  noisy  shows 
and  chattering  courtesans  are  still  in  sleep,  and 
when  you  come  out  to  the  broad  street  along  the 
Kaminari-mon  (the  Gate  of  Thunder),  the  entrance 
to  the  park,  you  find  that  most  of  men  and  women 
who  take  tramcars  or  go  by  rikisha  are  carrying 
kumade  on  their  shoulder,  and  seem  to  be  satisfied 
for  having  raked  up  wealth  and  happiness  for  the 
coming  new  year. 

Though  the  festival  market  of  the  god  Great 
Eagle  near  Yoshiwara  is  most  noted  and  flourishing 
among  the  others,  the  similar  festivals  are  also 
celebrated  on  the  same  day,  for  God  Eagle  at  the 
Hachiman  Shrine  of  Fukagawa,  at  the  Ebara  Shrine 
of  Shinagawa,  at  the  Suga  Shrine  of  Yotsuya,  and 
at  the  Hanazono  Shrine  of  Shinjuku.  In  all  these 
quarters  markets  of  kumade,  boiled  yam,  etc.,  are 
opened  equal  to  that  at  Asakusa. 


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MARKETS   NEAR   END   OF   YEAR 

In  the  evening  of  the  I4th  December  you  get 
down  from  the  tramcar  near  the  gate  of  the  shrine 
Hachiman  of  Fukagawa  Ward,  for  the  purpose  of 
witnessing  the  state  of  the  year's  end  market,  to  be 
held  in  this  evening.  These  markets,  held  at  several 
shrines  during  December,  are  for  preparations  of  the 
citizens  for  the  coming  new  year,  so  that  all  furniture 
and  articles  necessary  for  the  new  year  are  sold  in 
the  shops  and  stalls  opened  in  the  streets  of  the 
market-place. 

This  evening  the  sky  is  entirely  covered  with 
dense  and  dark  clouds,  and  the  cold  north  wind, 
which  have  been  blowing  since  this  morning,  having 
now  ceased,  it  is  expected  to  snow  before  midnight. 
On  the  two  large  round  pillars  of  the  front  gate  of 
the  shrine  large  oval  paper  lanterns  are  lighted 
high,  and  the  three  large  Chinese  characters,  "  Hachi- 
man-gu,"  are  distinctly  written  on  these  lanterns. 
Within  the  gate  there  is  a  long  stone  pavement 
leading  to  the  shrine,  and  on  the  both  sides  of  the 
pavement  stalls  of  battle-doors  and  shuttle-cocks  are 
arranged  in  regular  rows ;  these  stalls  are  generally 
called  the  hagoita-ya  (hagoita  means  battle-door,  and 
ya  shop),  which  are  crowded  with  spectators,  most 
of  whom  are  young  girls.  Material  of  the  battle- 
door  is  limited  to  the  light  wood  of  kiri  (Paulownia 
imperialis))  though  that  of  the  lowest  class  consists 
of  other  heavier  and  cheaper  kind  of  wood,  and  the 
size  is  popularly  from  one  to  three  feet  in  length. 
The  surface  of  a  battle-door  is  decorated  with  a 
picture  in  relief  made  of  stuffed  pieces  of  cloth  called 
the  oshie^  the  figure  of  the  picture  being  generally 
selected  out  of  the  portraits  of  the  most  popular 
actors  and  actresses.  Girls  standing  before  the  stalls 
criticise  on  the  skill  of  imitation  of  these  oshie  to 
the  countenance  of  actors,  and  desire  to  buy  one 
for  use  in  the  New  Year's  Days.  A  young  man 
approaches  to  a  stall  and  asks  the  stall-keeper  the 
value  of  a  middle-size  hagoita  which  is  decorated 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

with  a  cloth  portrait  of  Uzaemon,  a  popular  and 
first-class  young  actor,  personated  in  a  young  lord 
of  the  feudal  age.  Spectators  at  once  envelop 
him  and  listen  the  bargain  between  the  two.  The 
merchant  requires  yen  3.50  for  the  battle-door,  but 
the  purchaser  insists  on  reducing  the  price  to 
yen  1.50.  After  some  half  an  hour  of  a  complicated 
negotiation,  the  arrangement  of  the  bargain  was  at 
last  indicated  by  clapping  hands  by  the  seller,  and 
the  hagoita  was  taken  into  the  young  man's  hand 
by  payment  of  yen  2.00,  the  bottom  price  agreed 
between  the  two.  Thus  all  dealers  in  battle-doors 
in  the  market  of  at  the  year's  end  ask  the  fictitious 
price,  and  citizens  are  used  to  buy  one  by  reducing 
it  to  a  proper  rate.  If,  however,  a  lady  or  girl 
tries  to  buy  a  battle-door  herself  in  a  stall  of  the 
market,  she  is  almost  always  deceived  by  the 
cunning  merchant  and  compelled  to  bear  a  heavy 
burden  for  a  battle-door  of  rather  bad  quality. 

Another  large  store  of  battle-doors  is  surrounded 
with  a  great  crowd,  and,  approaching  to  it  through 
the  people,  you  find  an  old  gentleman  in  negotia- 
tion with  the  store  -  keeper.  The  gentleman  is 
followed  by  two  young  singing-  and  one  little 
dancing  -  girls.  Of  course  he  has  to  buy  battle- 
doors  for  these  girls  who  have  accompanied  their 
customer  here  to  have  the  new  toys  of  the  New 
Year  purchased  by  him.  The  merchant  knows  well 
that  the  old  man  must  anyhow  buy  at  whatever 
price  he  is  requested,  as  he  is  in  company  with 
geisha,  and  is  very  obstinate  never  to  consent  for 
his  proposal  to  reduce  the  price.  At  last  the  girls' 
patron  is  compelled  to  pay  twelve  yen  for  the  two 
larger  and  one  smaller  battle-doors,  which  are  at 
once  handed  to  the  girls.  They  seem  to  be  very 
much  gratified,  while  bystanders  are  secretly  ridicul- 
ing the  extravagance  of  the  old  fool. 

Passing  out  of  the  street  of  battle -doors,  you 
come  into  the  next  street,  where  various  shops  and 

132 


MARKETS  NEAR  END  OF  YEAR 

stalls  of  those  articles  necessary  for  decorations  in 
the  New  Year's  Days  are  sold — they  are  shimekazari, 
matsu  -  kazari,  kusamono,  omiya,  kazari-ebi^  potted 
plants  and  miscellaneous  articles.  Stores  of  shime- 
kazari^  matsu-kazari^  and  kusamono  are  open  cottages 
roughly  built  of  logs  and  straw  mats,  and  their 
inside  is  full  of  branches  of  pine-trees  and  bamboos 
(matsu-kazari),  holy  ornaments  in  the  form  of  ropes 
and  rings  made  of  new  straw  (shimekazari),  small 
branches  and  leaves  of  green  plants  known  as  uraziro 
(Gleichenia  glauca),  yuzuriha  (Daphniphyllum),  small 
rooted  pine-trees,  hondawara  (miniature  straw  bales 
of  rice),  and  dai-dai  (bitter  oranges);  omiya  shops 
sell  small  shrines  made  of  plain  wood,  and  people 
buy  them  to  dedicate  to  their  deified  ancestors  in 
the  New  Year.  Kazari-ebi,  or  red-boiled  lobsters, 
are  sold  for  the  New  Year's  decoration  too,  in  their 
special  stalls,  or  together  with  straw  ornaments. 
Potted  plants  of  fukujuso  (Adonis  davuricd)  with 
pretty  golden  flowers,  winding  little  pine  -  trees, 
small  plum-trees  full  of  lovely  flower-buds,  suisen 
(Narcissus  tazzetta)  with  the  white  and  yellow 
flowers  on  the  top  of  their  green  stems,  and  half- 
ripe  oranges,  are  all  nicely  arranged  on  the  stalls 
of  gardeners,  just  as  the  plant  shows  in  the  ennichi 
evening  of  a  temple,  and  people  buy  a  pot  or  two 
to  adorn  their  reception-rooms  in  the  New  Year. 

Then  you  come  to  the  porch  of  the  shrine  of 
God  Hachiman.  Here  a  great  number  of  men  and 
women,  both  young  and  old,  are  offering  prayers, 
clapping  hands,  and  throwing  copper,  nickel,  or 
silver  coins  into  the  alms-box.  At  the  interior  of 
the  shrine  candles  are  burning  around  the  altar, 
and  gongs  beaten  by  priests  ceaselessly  resounding. 
Coming  round  to  the  back  of  the  shrine,  there  is 
a  large  space  enclosed  with  a  round  row  of  cherry- 
trees.  Near  the  centre  of  the  space  you  find  a 
dense  crowd  of  people  forming  a  large  circle,  at 
the  centre  of  which  there  are  three  men  standing 

133 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

near  a  table,  and  one  of  them  is  delivering  a  speech. 
They  are  the  street  dentists,  well  known  by  the 
popular  name  "  Matsui  Gensui " ;  they  fluently 
explain  their  own  art  as  dentist,  and  boast  that 
they  can  cure  toothache  at  an  instant.  They  sell 
toothpowder  made  by  themselves,  and  are  proud 
of  its  best  quality  and  lowest  price.  Their  explana- 
tion on  the  powder  is  very  eloquent  and  skilful, 
so  that  the  audience  are  tempted  to  buy  a  bag  or 
two.  In  order  to  attract  the  people,  they  spin  tops 
or  make  strange  performances  with  a  very  long 
sword  of  more  than  six  feet.  They  treat  tops,  large 
and  small,  like  birds — some  fly  up  into  the  air,  fall 
down  upon  one's  shoulder,  and  are  taken  on  his 
hand,  still  spinning  and  spinning  actively.  It  seems 
to  be  impossible  for  anybody  to  unsheathe  such  a 
long  sword  of  over  six  feet,  but  one  of  the  street 
dentists,  who  wears  the  sword  by  his  waistbelt  and 
is  standing  on  a  tall  stand,  is  well  trained  to  draw 
out  the  sword  at  a  moment  as  quickly  as  a  flash 
of  lightning.  When  the  sword  is  drawn  the 
spectators  applaud  his  skill,  and  again  buy  the 
toothpowder  in  paper  bags  as  the  reward. 

You  leave  the  dentists  and  come  out  to  another 
street  of  stall-rows  brilliantly  lighted  with  lamps  of 
oil  or  acetylene  gas.  These  stalls  sell  toys  and  cakes 
which  most  attract  children.  At  the  end  of  the  street 
there  is  another  large  space,  where  the  curious  exhibi- 
tions of  several  kinds  are  attracting  guests  by  their 
noisy  music.  The  show  that  you  meet  first  is  a 
Saru-shibai)  or  Monkey  Theatricals.  The  temporary 
theatre  is  constructed  of  boards,  mattings,  and  cotton 
curtains,  and  a  number  of  actor-monkeys  can  be  seen 
playing  and  eating  through  the  front  windows.  A 
large  oil  lamp  is  shining  high  at  the  front  of  the 
theatre,  and  several  square  picture  boards  showing 
the  scenes  of  the  drama  are  hung  down  from  the  roof. 
Sound  from  the  orchestra  can  be  heard,  and  on  a  high 
square  platform  near  the  entrance  a  man  is  crying  to 


MARKETS  NEAR  END   OF  YEAR 

induce  spectators  :  "  Come  in,  boys  and  girls  !  This  is 
the  interesting  performance  done  by  monkeys.  It  is 
just  the  time  to  open  the  first  scene.  Come  in,  come 
in  ! "  After  paying  ten  sen  for  admission,  you  come 
into  the  enclosure  and  find  the  multitude  of  spectators 
standing  or  sitting  on  benches,  more  than  one-half 
of  them  being  children.  Accompanied  by  the  sound 
of  wood-clappers,  a  blue  curtain  of  cotton  cloth  is 
slowly  rolled  up,  and  there  appear  on  the  stage  two 
monkeys,  one  made  up  as  a  young  general  in  the 
feudal  age,  clad  in  armour  and  carrying  a  spear,  and 
the  other  as  a  young  lady  dressed  in  gaudy  costume, 
her  head  fully  decorated  with  flowery  hairpins  of  gold 
and  silver.  They  act  and  dance  just  as  actors  do,  with 
accompaniment  of  the  concert  of  drums  and  samisen, 
and  spectators  laugh  and  applaud  when  their  perform- 
ance comes  to  the  height  of  skill.  It  is  funny  that 
the  monkey-actors  often  forget  their  duty  on  the  stage, 
and  that  they  jump  on  each  other  crying  and  squealing. 
On  this  occasion  a  leader  of  the  actors  gives  them 
two  or  three  pieces  of  their  feed,  and  after  they  have 
devoured  it  up  in  a  few  moments  they  again  take 
their  theatrical  actions.  After  the  three  scenes  of 
comedy  and  tragedy  are  finished,  among  laughter  and 
applause  of  the  people,  they  are  replaced  by  new 
spectators,  and  the  same  performances  repeated  by 
the  monkeys  under  direction  of  the  leader. 

Next  to  the  monkey  theatricals  there  is  a  show  of 
the  baby  animal  said  to  have  been  born  between  a 
horse  and  a  cow,  and  it  is  pronounced  by  the  show- 
keeper  that  the  monster  with  both  the  mane  and  horns 
on  its  head  is  living  in  good  health.  The  third 
exhibition  is  a  young  girl  whose  two  arms  are  cut  off 
at  the  shoulder,  and  she  can  do  anything  with  her 
feet  just  as  one  does  with  hands — she  can  write 
well  on  paper  or  sew  clothes,  treating  a  pen  or  a 
needle  with  her  toes.  Besides  these,  several  strange 
or  funny  exhibitions  are  making  their  efforts  to  attract 
people,  and  all  of  them  filled  up  with  spectators  who 


THE  N1GHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

have  been   driven   into  the  gate   of  the   shows  by 
their  curiosity. 

Having  made  a  round  through  the  market  streets 
of  this  night,  you  come  out  again  to  the  main  street 
in  front  of  the  shrine's  gate,  and  discover  that  the 
whole  street  is  much  more  crowded  with  visitors  to 
the  market.  You  note  a  number  of  drunkards 
wandering  in  zigzags,  and  also  a  long  line  of  rikisha, 
more  than  a  dozen,  running  spiritedly  towards  the 
east.  No  doubt  those  on  rikisha  are  going  to  the 
quarter  of  Susaki,  situated  about  one  mile  to  the 
shrine.  At  this  moment  the  bell-tower  of  the  Shrine 
Hachiman  tolls  eleven. 


136 


CHAPTER    XIII 

CONFLAGRATION 

IN  the  feudal  age  of  the  Tokugawa  Shogunate,  when 
Tokyo  was  called  Yedo,  the  fire  was  gallantly  looked 
on  as  the  "  Flower  of  Yedo  "  by  the  citizens  ;  so  often 
the  fires  broke  out  in  the  capital,  specially  in  the  winter 
night,  and  still  you  are  frequently  surprised  from 
sound  sleep  and  driven  out  of  the  bed  by  the  outbreak 
of  the  disaster  even  in  the  present  time.  As  you 
know  the  houses  in  Tokyo  are  generally  built  of  wood, 
only  those  in  the  special  parts  of  the  city  being  con- 
structed of  brick  and  stone.  It  is  natural  that  these 
wooden  buildings  are  easy  to  catch  fire,  and  that,  if 
once  a  fire  breaks  out,  whether  by  accident  or 
incendiarism,  it  is  instantly  extended  to  the  surround- 
ing houses.  Moreover,  as  the  strong  north  wind  blows 
in  Tokyo  almost  every  night  and  day  during  the  winter, 
it  is  very  difficult  to  put  out  the  fire  quickly  unless  it 
is  discovered  and  extinguished  before  it  blazes  up 
above  the  roof  of  the  house. 

In  the  age  of  Yedo  the  duty  to  put  down  the  fire 
was  taken  by  the  firemen,  popularly  called  the  hikeshi 
or  shigotoshi,  which  were  associated  into  more  than 
forty  fire-brigades  throughout  the  city,  under  the 
titles  attached  with  each  of  the  Japanese  alphabet 
and  commanded  by  the  samurai  of  the  Government. 
Those  young  firemen  were  very  powerful  among 
citizens,  and  you  will  find  a  great  deal  of  stories  in  the 
Japanese  novels  and  histories  regarding  the  violent 

137 


THE  NIGHTSJDE   OF  JAPAN 

and  bloody  fightings  between  them  and  other  ranks 
of  people.  When  they  were  to  go  to  their  field  of  the 
fire  they  carried  a  sign  pole  called  the  matoi  at  the 
head  of  a  brigade — it  was  a  kind  of  the  regimental 
colours  for  the  brigade — and  at  the  head  of  the  pole  a 
large  alphabetical  sign  of  the  brigade's  title  was  shown, 
and  below  the  sign  the  white  long  fringe  hang  down. 
As  for  the  instruments  to  put  down  the  fire,  they  used 
hand-pumps,  fire-hooks,  ladders,  and  others  ;  and  for 
their  own  body,  they  put  on  a  kind  of  jacket  called  the 
sashiko  banten,  made  of  thick  cotton  cloth  sewn  up 
with  the  strong  cotton  thread  all  over  the  surface,  the 
hood  and  drawers  being  made  of  the  similar  strong 
cloth.  When  they  had  to  rescue  a  person  suffocat- 
ing in  the  smoke,  they  first  poured  the  water  over  the 
head,  and  after  fully  wetting  the  clothes,  they  bravely 
jumped  into  the  fire.  At  present  the  metropolitan 
fire-brigades  are  put  under  control  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment and  commanded  by  the  chief  commissioner  of 
the  metropolitan  police.  At  the  beginning  of  January 
every  year  the  ceremony  of  the  parade  of  firemen  is 
held  at  Park  Hibiya,  where  citizens  crowd  to  see  the 
active  movement  of  these  brave  young  men.  The 
instruments  to  extinguish  the  fire  have  made  a  great 
improvement — the  steam  fire-engines  are  adopted  in 
all  fire-brigade  stations,  the  fire-hydrants  fitted  to  the 
aqueduct,  and  the  fire-annihilators  prepared  in  almost 
every  house.  Firemen  put  on  the  uniform  made  of 
black  woollen  cloth,  and  their  head  is  protected  with 
the  brass  cap. 

The  organisation  of  fire-brigades  and  the  measures 
of  preventing  the  fire  having  been  improved  and 
gradually  approached  to  completion,  you  may  pre- 
sume that  the  fires  in  Tokyo  have  decreased  in  their 
number  and  intensity  ;  but  if  you  refer  to  the  statistical 
figures  given  in  the  official  reports,  you  will  be  sorry 
to  find  that  the  rage  of  the  red-tongued  demon  is  not 
greatly  weakened.  The  following  are  the  extracts 
from  the  official  reports  issued  by  the  Metropolitan 

138 


CONFLAGRATION 

Police  Office,  showing  the  number  and  causes  of  the 
fire: — 

"  During  the  three  months,  October  to  December 
1909,  the  total  number  of  the  fires  were  139  ;  average 
per  month  46.3,  and  per  day  1.54.  The  causes  were 
6  incendiarisms,  3  thunder,  15  chimneys,  38  lamps,  6 
kotatsu  (quilt  warmers),! 2  hibachi (charcoal  fire-boxes), 
9  embers  in  ashes,  8  candles,  n  burning  fires  for 
warming,  3  rushlights,  4  fire-places,  2  matches,  2 
explosives,  6  cigar-ends,  7  cinders  of  charcoal,  I  fire- 
extinguishing  pot,  2  portable  cooking-stoves,  2  fire- 
works, i  gas-light  and  I  wire  of  electric  light. 

"  Next,  January  to  September  1910,  the  total  were 
315  ;  average  per  month  35,  and  per  day  1.16.  The 
causes  were  46  lamps,  25  chimneys,  24  cigar-ends,  17 
bath-furnaces,  16  quilt  warmers,  15  charcoal  fire-boxes, 
15  candles,  17  cooking-ranges,  10  burning  fires  for 
warming,  7  cooking-stoves,  7  embers  in  ashes,  60  fire- 
extinguishing  pots  and  the  like,  28  incendiarisms,  and 
28  unknown.  The  total  during  the  all  twelve  months, 
October  1909  to  September  1910,  amounted  to  454, 
and  the  average  per  day  was  1.24." 

Among  these  causes  of  the  fire  above  mentioned, 
you  can  easily  understand  that  the  gas  light,  the 
wire  of  electric  light,  the  chimney,  the  explosive,  the 
petroleum  oil,  and  the  match,  could  not  be  seen  in  the 
old  times.  Another  great  cause  of  not  lessening  the 
fires  in  the  present  time  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  way 
of  building  the  house.  In  ancient  times  the  houses 
in  the  city  were  constructed  in  the  flat  one-story  on 
the  wide  ground,  but  lately  they  are  built  higher  and 
higher,  to  three,  four,  or  five  stories,  on  a  limited  land. 
If  such  a  high  building  catches  fire,  its  intensity  of 
burning  is  stronger  than  a  flat  one.  Abundance  of 
various  works  and  factories,  where  petroleum  and  other 
oils  are  much  used,  in  and  around  the  city,  can  be 
counted  as  another  cause  of  the  increase  of  calamities. 


139 


THE  N1GHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

It  was  in  the  night  of  the  igth  February  1913,  and 
the  strong  north-west  wind  raging  furiously  since  the 
daytime.  Towards  the  evening  of  the  day  the  wind 
became  violent  more  and  more.  When  it  was  about 
2  A.M.  on  the  morning  of  the  2Oth,  suddenly  a  fire 
broke  out  at  Misakicho  Street  of  Kanda  district — 
one  of  the  most  flourishing  streets,  and  specially  the 
district  of  Kanda  is  noted  for  being  the  gathering 
centre  of  students.  The  origin  of  the  fire  was  the 
Settlement  Hall  established  by  the  Salvation  Army. 
The  devilish  wind,  which  was  so  strong  that  nobody 
could  face  to  it,  was  glad  to  find  its  victim,  and 
blew  against  the  fire  with  its  full  might.  At  an 
instant  the  fire  blazed  up  and  extended  to  the 
buildings  on  four  sides.  All  the  houses  and  shops 
in  streets  to  the  south-east  were  entirely  covered 
with  the  rain  of  sparks,  while  the  fire  was  spreading 
with  its  horrible  speed  towards  the  same  direction, 
burning  down  everything  on  the  way.  People  in  the 
neighbourhood,  who  were  surprised  from  their  dream 
by  ringing  of  the  fire-bells,  ran  out  of  their  houses, 
and,  being  dismayed  on  looking  the  force  of  the 
ferocious  fire,  burst  out  into  unanimous  cries,  and 
there  followed  a  great  confusion,  all  men  and  women 
trying  to  escape  from  danger  and  to  save  the 
furnitures  as  much  as  possible.  The  fire-brigades 
belonging  to  the  police-stations,  as  well  as  police- 
men, ran  up  to  the  spot  of  the  conflagration  and 
made  efforts  desperately  to  put  it  down.  The 
violence  of  the  mad  fire,  however,  became  stronger 
and  stronger,  and  in  half  an  hour  this  quarter  of 
Kanda  was  entirely  changed  to  the  sea  of  fire. 
When  the  force  of  the  fire  proceeded  to  the  streets 
of  Sarugakucho  and  Jimbocho,  those  larger  build- 
ings, such  as  schools,  halls,  hotels,  and  big  merchant 
stores,  were  successively  burnt  down,  and  all  famous 
shops  in  the  streets  of  Ogawamachi  and  Nishikicho 
also  reduced  to  ashes.  Several  hundred  soldiers 
were  despatched  from  the  First  Division  of  the 
Imperial  Guards  in  order  to  help  the  fire-brigades 

140 


CONFLAGRATION 

and  policemen,  and,  under  fierce  co-operation  of 
these  three  bodies,  the  monstrous  fire  was  hardly 
quenched  down  at  last  when  it  was  forty  minutes 
past  seven  on  the  morning  of  the  2Oth.  The  extent 
of  the  land  converted  to  the  burning  hell  was  more 
than  one  mile  long  from  north  to  south  and  about 
half  a  mile  wide  from  west  to  east ;  the  total  number 
of  houses  destroyed  amounted  to  over  one  thousand 
and  five  hundred  and  the  poor  citizens  driven  out 
homeless  were  estimated  to  be  more  than  ten 
thousands. 

It  was  a  policeman  that  first  discovered  the  out- 
break of  the  fire ;  he  was  on  duty  at  a  police-box 
near  the  building  of  the  Salvation  Army,  and  no 
sooner  he  gave  the  warning  to  neighbouring  houses 
than  a  large  fire-flake  blown  off  by  the  raging  wind 
fell  upon  a  roof  more  than  half  a  furlong  distant 
to  the  south-east,  and  began  to  blaze  up  instantly. 
This  fire  spreading  to  the  north-east,  the  three-storied 
Baptist  Church  and  thirty  houses  were  burnt  down 
at  a  moment.  About  the  same  time  the  newly- 
built  primary  school,  and  the  French,  English,  and 
Japanese  Higher  Female  School  at  the  Omote- 
Sarugakucho  Street,  began  to  burn  owing  to  fire- 
flakes  too.  Thus,  three  or  four  fires  having  flamed 
up  at  once  at  different  directions  under  the  sky 
over  the  Kanda  district,  people  in  the  vicinity  could 
hardly  find  the  way  how  to  escape  from  the  danger. 

As  the  Imperial  Palace  was  to  leeward,  the  Horse 
Bureau  and  a  part  of  the  citadel  within  the  Hirakawa 
Gate  were  entirely  covered  with  the  rain  of  fire- 
flakes.  All  palace  guards  off  duty  having  been 
convoked  up  promptly,  the  total  number  amounting 
to  more  than  250,  including  over  40  standing 
palace  firemen,  were  distributed  on  the  stone  walls 
and  all  principal  parts  inside  the  castle ;  fire- 
hydrants  open ;  two  steam  fire-engines  and  many 
hand-pumps  perfectly  arranged ;  so  that  everything 
was  prepared  to  meet  any  crisis  at  any  time. 
Besides  these,  two  mixed  troops  despatched  from 

141 


THE  NIGHTSIDE    OF  JAPAN 

the  Second  Regiment  of  the  Imperial  Guards,  one 
consisting  of  360  and  the  other  more  than  80 
footsoldiers,  ran  up  to  the  castle  and  took  charge 
to  strictly  guard  the  in  and  out  sides  of  the 
Hirakawa  Gate ;  and,  moreover,  having  been  anxious 
if  there  would  have  happen  any  peril,  the  other 
troops  of  infantry  were  sent  to  the  Palace  from  the 
Third  and  Fourth  Regiments  of  the  Imperial  Guards 
at  Akasaka.  Fortunately,  as  the  fire  was  put  down 
safely  for  this  direction,  all  guardings  were  with- 
drawn at  10  A.M.  In  addition  to  those  above 
mentioned,  at  the  moment  when  the  fire  broke  out 
troops  were  sent  out  to  help  firemen  and  policemen 
from  the  First  and  Second  Regiments  of  the  Imperial 
Guards  to  the  spot  of  the  conflagration,  and  the  ten 
rounding  parties,  each  consisting  of  ten  soldiers 
commanded  by  one  officer,  were  despatched  from 
the  First  Division  to  rescue  the  refugees  and  guard 
the  furnitures  brought  out  from  their  houses. 

The  large  and  prominent  buildings  consumed  by 
the  conflagration  were  as  follows : — 

Schools — 

The  French,  English,  and  Japanese  Higher 
Female  School,  Junten  Middle  School, 
Tokyo  Middle  School,  Kinka  Primary 
School,  Taisei  Middle  School,  Foreign 
Language  School,  and  its  branch,  Kinjo 
Commercial  School,  Tokyo  Engineering 
School,  Kensu  Gakkan  (School  on  Mathe- 
matics), Toyo  Gakuin,  Tokyo  Denki 
Gakko  (School  on  Electric  Machineries), 
Senshu  Gakkan. 

Individual  Houses — 

Lawyer  Kishimoto,  Doctor  Sato,  Author  I  to, 
Lawyer  Kasawara,  Lawyer  Uehara,  etc. 

Book  Stores — 

Tokyodo,  Fuzambo,  Dobunkan,  Yuhikaku,  etc. 
142 


CONFLAGRATION 

Churches — 

Settlement  Department  of  the  Salvation  Army, 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  Central  Baptist 
Church,  and  Meiji  Kaikan. 

Miscellaneous — 

Kinkikan  Hall,  Tokyo  Department  Store, 
Kanda  branch  of  the  Tenshodo  watch 
and  jewel  store,  Kawataketei  the  variety 
hall,  the  University  Graduates'  Club,  the 
Japan  Silk  Thread  Association,  etc. 

Damages  sustained  by  the  home  and  foreign 
insurance  companies  owing  to  the  great  fire  were 
as  follows : — 

Yen  120,000  Meiji  Fire  Insurance  Company 
380,000  Tokyo  „  „ 

240,000  Yokohama     „  ,, 

200,000  Nippon          „  „ 

370,000  Kyodo  „ 

1 50,000  Kobe  „  „ 

60,000  Toho  „  „ 

120,000  Imperial        „  „ 

300,000  Toyokuni       „  „ 

180,000  Osaka  „  „ 

150,000  Naniwa          „  „ 

120,000  Toyo  (Oriental)  Fire  Insurance  Company 
100,000  T6-a  (East  Asiatic)          „  „ 

80,000  Fukuju  „  „ 

40,000  Nisshin  (Japan  and  China)  Fire  Insurance 

Company 
100,000   Teikoku   Kaijo    (Imperial   Marine)    Fire 

Insurance  Company 

50,000  Nippon  Kaijo  (Japan  Marine)  Fire  Insur- 
ance Company 

50,000  Commercial  Fire  Insurance  Company 

50,000  Norwich  ,,  „ 

10,000  Phoenix  „  „ 

20,000  Liverpool  „  „ 

2,000  South  British          „  „ 

25,000  Newzealand  „  „ 

7,500  Sun  „  „ 

8,000  Scottish  „  „ 

10,000  Union  „  „ 


Total,  Yen  2,942,500 

143 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

As  to  the  measures  of  relief  and  protection  for 
sufferers,  as  soon  as  the  fire  became  intense,  the 
Kanda  Ward  Office,  in  co-operation  with  physicians 
of  the  Red  Cross  Society,  made  arrangements  of 
a  refuge  for  sufferers  and  a  relief  place  for  the 
wounded  in  the  office  yard,  and,  at  about  six  on 
the  morning,  they  established  temporary  branch 
offices  of  the  Red  Cross  Society  in  the  Nishikicho 
Police  Station,  the  Hitotsubashi  Primary  School, 
the  Tokyo  Female  Commercial  School,  and  the 
theatre  Misakiza,  and  business  in  these  branches 
were  earnestly  taken  by  the  great  number  of  the 
ward  officials  and  policemen.  Besides,  the  Saimin 
Kyokai  (Imperial  Relief  Association)  voluntarily 
opened  their  temporary  branches  in  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association's  Hall,  Nishi-Ogawa 
Primary  School,  and  the  Taisho  Nurses'  Association 
Hall  at  Sarugakucho;  and  the  Kanda  Branch 
Association  of  the  Military  Men  at  Home  also 
disposed  their  branch  office  to  supply  provision 
to  the  sufferers  in  the  Tenri  Doctrine  Hall  at 
Nishikicho. 

The  most  serious  event  during  this  conflagration 
was  the  death  of  a  young  Chinese  who  was  lodging 
in  a  boarding-house  at  Misakicho,  very  near  to  the 
origin  of  the  fire.  There  were  twelve  Chinese 
students  (including  two  females)  lodging  in  this 
house  on  this  occasion,  and  at  the  moment  when 
the  fire  broke  out  all  boarders  escaped  out  of 
the  house ;  a  Chinese  boy  named  Shah- Yaw  Kan, 
only  sixteen  years  old,  who  was  sleeping  in  No.  1 1 
Room  upstairs,  and  roused  by  his  comrades,  ran 
out  of  the  building  together  with  them,  but  he 
went  again  into  the  house  with  the  hope  to  take 
out  his  books  and  baggages.  At  this  time  the 
four  sides  of  the  boarding  -  house  was  already 
enveloped  in  the  blaze  and  smoke,  and,  as  there 
was  no  means  to  rescue  him  out,  nothing  was 
known  of  his  fate  till  six  on  the  morning.  When 

144 


CONFLAGRATION 

the  fire  was  put  down  and  the  burnt  ruins  of  the 
building  was  dug  over,  the  corpse  of  the  poor  boy, 
almost  charred,  was  discovered  under  the  heap  of 
burnt  mats  and  fittings,  and  his  silver  watch  and 
chain,  gold  spectacles,  and  pocket  looking  -  glass 
were  found  near  its  side  too.  How  sad  was  the 
scene  of  the  mummy-like  corpse  lying  on  its  face 
upon  the  smoking  land,  the  head  almost  falling 
from  the  neck !  Spectators,  who  swarmed  around 
it  from  sympathy  or  curiosity,  were  driven  away 
by  two  or  three  policemen,  who  were,  however, 
troubled  by  another  crowd  coming  upon  again  at 
the  next  moment. 

How  was  the  sight  of  the  Kanda  quarter  after 
the  great  conflagration  in  the  next  night? 

On  the  day  after  the  dreadful  fire  the  wind  was 
very  cold  and  the  sky  covered  with  dim  clouds. 
Towards  the  evening  the  tramcars,  which  had  been 
intercepted  since  the  last  night,  began  now  to  run 
again  through  the  streets  destroyed,  and  by  and  by 
the  whole  sphere  of  miserably  burnt  ruins  was 
wrapped  into  the  darkness  of  night.  Turning  to 
the  left  at  the  approach  of  the  Bridge  Kanda-bashi, 
and  arriving  at  one  corner  where  the  tram  is  turning 
to  the  right  for  the  Surugadai  bluff,  you  stood  at 
a  spot  along  the  so-called  Nishikicho  river -bank, 
and,  looking  to  the  west,  would  recognise  black 
and  white  smokes  still  curling  up  from  the  remains 
of  burnt -down  buildings,  some  unpleasant  smells 
coming  up  from  the  parched  land  strongly  attack- 
ing your  nose  at  the  same  time. 

Along  the  river-bank  flames  were  still  rising 
vigorously,  so  that  one  would  have  taken  it  for 
another  fire  broken  out  newly  again  in  this  night ; 
but  they  were  continuance  of  blazing  of  wood  and 
charcoal  which  had  been  stored  up  in  the  shops  of 
wholesale  merchants  of  fuel.  When  you  looked  at 
them  from  a  distance  they  might  be  taken  for  torches 
145  K 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

of  the  army  in  the  night  attack  or  will-o'-the-wisp 
shining  upon  the  hell.  When  you  went  on  from 
Nishikicho  to  under  the  bluff  of  Surugadai  you 
would  find  a  great  number  of  lanterns  carried  by 
labourers  of  the  electric  company  and  policemen  on 
guard  of  the  streets,  and  these  lanterns,  which  were 
running  to  and  fro  like  meteors  in  the  sky,  gave  light 
for  visitors  in  condolence  for  the  sufferers  or  spectators 
of  the  desolate  scene  after  the  fire. 

Ogawamachi  and  Jimboch5  being  the  streets  of 
book  stores,  you  could  not  help  to  feel  a  great  sorrow 
when  you  saw  black  smokes  rising  up  from  the  remains 
of  those  largest  stores,  such  as  the  Fuzambo,  the 
Dobunkan,  the  Sanseido,  and  the  Tokyodo,  where 
valuable  books  of  knowledge  and  interest  had  been 
sold  night  and  day  till  the  last  evening.  Each  of  the 
compounds  of  these  burnt  houses  was  already  fenced 
with  new  boards,  and  the  long  and  large  paper  lanterns 
called  takahari,  on  which  the  name  of  each  shop  was 
distinctly  marked,  were  shining  above  the  fence,  while 
the  refuge  of  the  men  of  the  store  was  noticed  on  a 
large  board  nailed  against  the  board  fence.  When 
you  were  looking  at  the  notice-board  you  found  a 
young  man  standing  by  your  side.  His  face  was  pale, 
indicating  his  great  fatigue  and  disappointment,  and 
his  eyes  were  full  of  tears,  talking  the  grief  in  his 
mind.  You  instantly  understood  that  he  must  have 
been  one  of  the  clerks  of  the  book  store.  When  you 
approached  the  ruin  of  the  Kinkikan,  the  great  variety 
hall  in  the  Kanda  Ward,  you  found  a  great  number  of 
boys  and  girls  wandering  about  round  it ;  when  you 
came  near  that  of  the  Kinjo  Commercial  School  you 
met  several  groups  of  students  in  academicals  sadly 
standing  all  in  silence. 

As  you  approached  gradually  to  the  origin  of  the 
fire  the  rising  smokes  became  less  and  less,  but  the 
bad  smell  of  scorching  strongly  attacked  your  nose. 
Here  the  tramcars  for  Kudan  and  Aoyama  were 
quickly  running,  while  those  for  Sugamo  and  Mita 


CONFLAGRATION 

slowly  marching  in  order  to  evade  from  danger  for 
throngs  of  sufferers  and  spectators.  Policeman  stand- 
ing each  with  a  distance  of  about  twenty  yards  were 
constantly  giving  notice  to  the  passers  to  take  the 
left  side  of  the  road.  Having  come  to  the  remains  of 
the  French,  English,  and  Japanese  Female  School, 
you  thought  that  the  broken  walls  of  red  bricks  were 
just  like  the  walls  of  an  old  castle  destroyed  by  the 
brave  bombardment  of  enemy.  At  the  remains  of 
the  Settlement  Hall  of  the  Salvation  Army,  the  origin 
of  the  great  conflagration,  no  light  was  seen,  and  on 
the  heap  of  black  pieces  of  wood  burnt  down  a  group 
of  men  and  women,  amounting  to  some  forty  or  fifty, 
standing  amidst  the  dark,  were  loudly  blaming  the 
originator  of  the  crime.  Visitors  on  condolence — 
fathers  to  their  married  daughters,  sons  to  their 
parents,  students  to  their  teachers,  mothers  to  the 
employers  of  their  sons,  or  artisans  to  their  masters 
— were  troubled  to  find  out  the  refuges  of  these 
sufferers,  and,  though  they  made  application  to  the 
policemen  standing  on  the  roadside,  it  was  not 
easy  to  learn  the  addresses  from  them.  Boarding- 
houses  for  students  having  been  almost  all  burnt 
down,  they  were  compelled  to  remove  their  lodging 
to  those  in  Ushigome,  Hongo,  or  Koishikawa  district. 
One  young  fellow,  who  appeared  to  be  a  student 
of  a  law  college,  was  standing  near  the  ruin  of 
the  fire's  origin  and  talking  to  another  youth, 
perhaps  his  classmate :  "  I  had  no  time  to  take  out 
all  my  articles;  the  haori"  (Japanese  coat)  "sent  by 
my  merciful  mother  in  the  country  was  burnt,  the 
watch  given  by  my  kind  father  was  lost  too — but 
only  her  photograph  always  in  my  pocket  .  .  .  ," 
and  then  he  was  laughing  loudly. 

When  the  night  was  getting  later  the  sky  above 
the  west  Kanda  was  entirely  covered  with  white 
fumes.  Newsboys  crying  the  evening  press,  "One 
sen,  one  sen,  together  with  the  extra ! "  sold  very 
well,  and  merchants  of  celluloid  spectacles,  who  were 

147 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

loudly  calling,  "  Best  spectacles  to  protect  eyes  from 
dust — three  sen,  only  three  sen  ! "  were  crowded  with 
purchasers.  By  the  side  of  the  board  fence  enclosing 
a  burnt  compound  small  red  square  paper  lanterns 
could  be  seen  emitting  their  lonely  rays ;  they  were 
odenya  stalls,  which  supplied  hot  potatoes,  taroes, 
Konnyaku,  and  fish-flesh  to  the  visitors  of  the  fire  field, 
and  sake  of  three  sen  per  glass  sold  by  the  same  stall- 
keepers  were  the  best  refreshment  for  them  in  the 
cold  night.  When  you  went  on  round  the  burnt 
quarter  you  often  saw  a  number  of  wandering  out- 
casts driven  away  by  policemen ;  they  stole  into  the 
enclosure  of  ruins  and  attempted  to  pick  out  pieces  of 
metallic  articles  burnt  and  buried  under  piles  of  the 
remains.  Now  it  was  past  twelve,  and  the  visitors, 
spectators,  and  wanderers  having  dispersed  for  their 
home,  men  to  be  seen  on  the  parched  land  were 
policemen  and  labourers  only. 

The  strong  north  wind  in  this  winter  (1913)  con- 
tinued to  blow  almost  every  night  till  the  end  of 
March,  and  the  fires  broke  out  successively  in  the 
city.  Though  the  metropolitan  police  made  efforts 
to  prevent  from  the  calamities,  yet  the  terrible  events 
happened  during  the  two  month  were  so  numerous 
that  we  cannot  mention  each  of  them.  Among  the 
others  the  most  tragical  accident  was  at  the  fire 
happened  at  the  quarter  of  Senju.  It  was  on  the 
nth  March.  At  1.40  A.M.  the  fire  broke  out  from 
the  kitchen  of  a  greengrocer  living  at  the  Senju,  the 
north-eastern  corner  of  the  city.  The  master  of  the 
house  was  out  this  night,  and  his  family,  consisting  of 
the  old  mother,  wife,  two  sons  and  two  daughters, 
having  been  surprised  by  crackling  of  the  fire,  they 
were  awakened  from  their  sound  sleep,  and,  finding 
the  house  already  filled  with  flames,  hardly  escaped 
out  of  it,  all  at  once  crying  and  shrieking.  The 
younger  daughter,  eight  years  old,  however,  was  not 
among  them,  and  when  the  elder  daughter  of  nineteen 

148 


CONFLAGRATION 

was  running  about  the  house  to  seek  her  sister,  she 
was  greatly  startled  by  hearing  her  cries  of  agony  in 
the  flames,  now  burnt  up  above  the  building.  At  the 
moment  when  she  was  about  to  jump  into  the  burning 
house  to  rescue  her  little  sister  her  mother,  forty-two 
years  old,  stopped  her,  and  at  an  instant  went  into  the 
whirling  flames  herself,  aiming  at  the  suffering  shrieks, 
having  forgotten  her  own  danger  for  the  love  of  her 
younger  daughter.  The  old  grandmother,  seventy-two 
years  of  age,  having  seen  the  danger  of  her  daughter 
and  grand-daughter,  it  was  nothing  for  her  to  run  a 
risk  herself  too,  and  ran  into  the  fire,  following  her 
daughter.  After  a  few  minutes  cries  of  the  little  girl 
were  not  audible,  but  the  two  women  did  not  appear 
out  of  the  burning  house. 

In  the  meantime  the  fire  spread  to  the  next 
bath-house,  and  having  been  fanned  by  the  north- 
west wind  and  gradually  extended  to  the  market- 
place of  vegetables,  cleared  away  more  than  twenty 
largest  vegetable  stores  of  wholesale  merchants.  It 
was  half -past  three  when  the  fire  was  hardly  put 
down,  and  the  total  number  of  the  houses  burnt  down 
was  sixty-eight,  besides  two  half-burnt.  The  burnt 
corpses  of  the  three  females  were  discovered  under 
the  heaps  of  the  ruins  of  their  house.  What  a 
tragical  scene  it  was  when  they  were  given  up  to  the 
survivors  of  their  family  after  the  coroner's  inquest 
was  finished ! 

To  give  examples  of  other  smaller  fires : — 
On  the  nth  March,  at  1.55  A.M.,  a  fire  broke  out 
in  an  unoccupied  house  at  Nedzu,  of  Kongo  district, 
and  after  destroying  seventeen  whole  and  seven  half- 
burnt  houses,  was  put  down  at  3.10  A.M.  The  cause 
of  the  fire  is  suspected  to  be  incendiarism. 

At  about  half -past  five  on  the  same  morning 
another  fire  took  place  at  a  spot  between  two 
houses  at  Nishimaru,  of  Koishikawa  district,  and, 
unfortunately,  the  fire-brigade  of  the  No.  5th  Fire 

149 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

Department  having  been  sent  out  for  the  fire  at 
Nedzu,  thirteen  whole  and  three  half-burnt  houses 
were  the  loss.  The  cause  was  unknown. 

At  half-past  eleven  same  day  an  accidental  fire 
blazed  up  at  the  bathroom  of  the  Brain  Disease 
Hospital  at  Aoyama,  but  happily  it  was  extinguished 
at  once  by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  officers  in 
the  hospital,  the  damage  having  been  limited  to 
only  the  bathroom's  roof  blown  up.  There  was  a 
great  confusion  when  over  ;fifty  in-patients  were 
temporarily  removed  to  take  refuge  to  the  neighbour- 
ing plain. 

At  three  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  there 
was  an  arson  at  an  empty  house  at  Hashiba,  of 
Asakusa,  but  immediately  it  was  put  out  by  the 
neighbours. 

At  half-past  seven  on  the  same  evening  another 
fire  was  caused  by  the  lighting  of  an  old  mat  in  the 
avatory  of  a  dry  goods  shop  at  Saegicho,  Kanda, 
but,  fortunately,  having  been  discovered  by  one  of 
the  clerks,  it  was  instantly  quenched  out.  People  in 
Kanda  district  having  been  in  a  deep  horror  after  the 
conflagration  in  the  previous  month,  there  produced 
a  great  to-do  among  them  in  the  neighbourhood  for 
a  time.  We  are  told  that  at  the  moment  when  the 
incendiary  fire  was  discovered  somebody  ascertained 
a  strange  woman  wandering  about  near  the  house ; 
but  in  spite  of  strict  searches  by  the  Nishi-Kanda 
police,  she  could  not  be  arrested  up  to  the  midnight. 


150 


CHAPTER  XIV 

WINTER   NIGHT 

A. — Kammairi,  or   Temple    Visitors    in   the   Coldest 
Season 

CITIZENS  who  went  out  to  pay  a  round  of  New 
Year's  calls  have  already  come  back  to  home  and 
finished  supper  ;  distributers  of  the  evening  press  are 
now  on  their  way  back  after  completing  their  duty ; 
it  is  now  eight  o'clock  in  one  winter  evening  of 
the  coldest  season,  which  is  generally  called  the 
Kanchu  (midst  of  the  cold).  At  this  time  you  hear 
ringing  of  small  bells  carried  by  one,  two,  or  three 
men,  who  run  away  near  your  gate.  Who  are  they, 
and  what  are  they  running  for?  They  are  the  so- 
called  kammairi  who  are  on  the  way  to  visit  a  certain 
temple.  In  the  ancient  time,  when  the  regulation 
for  manners  was  liberal,  they  were  called  by  the 
popular  name  of  hadkamairi  (naked  worshippers), 
and  are  said  to  have  been  going  naked  on  the  public 
road  in  the  cold  night ;  but  at  present,  according  to 
the  wishes  of  the  authorities,  they  put  on  white 
uniform  and  carry  a  long  paper  lantern  marked 
with  their  own  names  or  signs.  Females  do  not 
bind  the  hair,  but  hang  it  down  over  the  shoulder, 
and  they,  as  well  as  males,  tie  the  head  with  the 
twisted  white  handkerchief. 

Temples  and  shrines  visited  by  these  kammairi 
are  the  Fudo  of  Funkagawa,  the  Kotohira  of 
Toranomon,  the  Sanja  of  Asakusa,  the  Fudo  of 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

Ryogoku,  the  Toyokawa-Inari  of  Akasaka,  the 
Entsuji  of  Hitotsugi,  the  Marishiten  of  Ueno,  the 
Yakushi  of  Honjo,  the  Tamiya-Inari  of  Kyobashi, 
the  Daijingu  of  Shiba,  the  Tsukudo  Hachiman  of 
Ushigome,  the  Yushima  Tenjin  of  Hongo,  and  the 
Soshi  of  Nihonbashi,  and  among  the  others  the 
Fudo  of  Fukagawa  and  the  Kotohira  of  Shiba  are 
most  popular,  citizens  believing  these  two  to  be  most 
efficacious  from  their  blind  superstition.  As  the 
Yoshiwara  is  the  most  flourishing  place  in  Tokyo  for 
the  festival  of  the  god  Eagle,  and  as  the  prostitute 
quarter,  so  is  the  Fudo  in  Tukagawa  the  most  popular 
temple  for  the  kammairi  in  the  city.  During  the 
coldest  season  of  every  winter  there  come  fifteen 
hundred  visitors  to  the  temple  every  night ;  among 
them  those  who  take  the  Mizu-gori  (purifica- 
tion by  immersion  in  water)  amount  to  over  one 
thousand,  and  the  rest  only  worship  bowing  in  front 
of  the  temple  hall.  You  cannot  help  to  wonder  if  you 
see  that  thirty  or  forty  females  are  taking  the  water 
purification  among  these  visitors.  Whence  come 
such  a  great  number  of  the  kammairi  to  the  Fudo 
Temple?  They  assemble  from  all  directions  of  the 
city  and  its  suburbs — from  Sunamura  to  the  east, 
from  Takanawa  of  Shiba  to  the  south,  from  Mikawa- 
dai  of  Azabu  and  Aoyama  of  Akasaka  to  the  west, 
and  from  Koishikawa,  Hongo,  Shitaya,  Asakusa,  and 
Minami  Sengu  to  the  north ;  and  those  from  Kanda, 
Nihonbashi,  and  Kyobashi,  as  well  as  inhabitants  in 
Fukagawa,  the  district  of  the  site  of  the  temple  itself, 
and  in  Honjo,  its  neighbouring  district,  are  most 
numerous  above  all. 

Citizens,  both  male  and  female,  who  are  used  to 
visit  temples  and  shrines  and  make  greedy  prayers 
for  their  health  and  happiness,  are  generally  limited  to 
the  gay  circle,  but  most  of  the  kammairi  in  the  cold 
night — clad  in  the  white  clothes,  the  head  tied  up 
with  the  white  handkerchief,  the  feet  put  on  white 
tabi  (socks),  but  with  no  shoes  nor  clogs,  and  running 

152 


THE  KAMMAIRI. 


WINTER  NIGHT 

the  street  very  lively — belong  to  the  class  of  artisans 
all  busy  in  day-time ;  that  is  to  say,  they  are  young 
and  high-spirited  employees  of  carpenters,  plasterers, 
cabinet-makers,  mat-makers,  masons,  roofers,  brick- 
layers, sawyers,  and  hoopers.  It  is  not  uncommon 
that  there  are  the  temple  visitors  who  come  half  in 
fun  among  these  devotees  of  the  coldest  night ;  you 
often  find  little  boys  of  nine  or  ten  years  at  the 
temple,  and  their  true  object  of  the  visit  seems  not  to 
be  prayer  to  the  temple,  but  they  are  ambitious  to 
taste  the  sweet  amazake  (hot  beverage  made  of 
fermented  yeast),  which  the  temple  entertains  to  the 
visitors.  In  the  night  of  rain,  snow,  or  strong  wind, 
therefore,  the  kammairi  are  decreased  to  half  the 
number  of  the  ordinary  night,  and,  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  temporarily  increased  in  the  warm  night. 
The  pious  devotees  who  come  to  the  temple  through- 
out the  whole  thirty  days  of  the  coldest  season  are 
said  to  be  less  than  five  hundred  out  of  fifteen  hundred, 
and  you  can  easily  understand  the  two-thirds  of  the 
total  number  of  the  kammairi  are  amateurs  coming 
out  of  half  in  joke. 

The  devout  worshippers,  however,  have  some 
serious  matters  for  themselves — to  cure  the  father 
of  disease  quickly  or  to  rescue  the  master  from  the 
brink  of  death.  Though  their  conduct  is  the  mani- 
festation of  superstition  and  appears  to  be  ridiculous, 
yet  their  loyal  and  filial  intention  is  worthy  to  be 
admired.  You  are  told  by  the  men  of  the  temple 
that  the  female  worshippers  are  very  pious,  and  never 
fail  to  appear  every  night  through  the  whole  season. 
In  the  last  winter  a  geisha  (singing-girl)  of  Susaki 
submitted  herself  to  the  kammairi  service  to  pray  for 
recovery  of  her  sick  old  mother.  When  the  brothels 
and  guide-houses  of  Susaki  heard  her  filial  piety,  all 
were  sympathising  with  her,  and  as  soon  as  she  came 
back  from  the  prayer  to  the  temple  every  night  they 
engaged  her  to  attend  upon  guests  in  their  houses. 
Thus,  her  calling  having  been  very  flourishing,  she 

153 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

could  get  much  money,  with  which  she  called  a  good 
physician  for  the  old  mother,  who  was  happy  to  have 
completely  recovered  in  a  short  time.  Piety  produces 
good  efficience  if  it  is  combined  with  sympathy. 
Employees  of  artisans,  who  gaily  run  about  the 
public  road  crying  loudly,  are  obstructors  of  the  street, 
and,  though  they  wish  to  make  improvement  on 
their  work  by  praying  to  the  temple,  they  are  hopeless 
unless  they  are  faithful  to  their  business  in  their 
master's  shop.  In  every  winter  the  females  who  take 
purification  of  water  for  the  whole  thirty  days  are 
less  than  ten,  and  there  are  twenty  males  who  pour 
the  cold  water  over  their  white  clothes,  and  run  back 
by  the  wet  dress  as  it  is,  this  way  of  watering  being 
called  the  severest  purification. 

The  hall  of  water  purification  is  situated  to  the  left 
of  the  main  building  of  the  temple,  a  small  building 
at  its  entrance  being  a  detached  hall  dedicated  to  the 
Fudo.  At  the  centre  of  the  hall  there  is  a  large 
artesian  well  for  use  of  the  purgers,  and  the  arrange- 
ment is  done  so  as  the  two  persons  can  purify  them- 
selves at  once,  each  standing  on  the  opposite  side. 
Under  the  ceiling  electric  lamps  are  shining.  While 
taking  purification  their  clothes  are  given  in  charge 
of  the  Fudo  hall  at  the  entrance,  but  as  more  than  one 
hundred  persons  are  crammed  up  every  half-an-hour, 
policemen  are  despatched  from  the  Eitaibashi  police- 
station  to  guard  against  a  rare  possibility  of  robbery. 
It  is  seldom  to  hear  of  the  loss  of  clothes  or  quarrels 
among  worshippers  every  year,  and  the  door  of  the 
hall  is  shut  up  at  ten  every  night ;  consequently  those 
who  come  later  than  the  time,  and  cannot  take  water 
purge,  are  compelled  to  go  home  after  merely  praying 
at  the  front  of  the  main  temple. 

Amazake  and  charcoal  fire,  which  are  supplied 
every  night  to  entertain  the  kammairi,  consist  of  the 
contribution  by  religious  guilds  of  devotees  to  the 
Fudo.  Amazake  entertainment _(hot  beverage  made 
of  fermented  yeast)  is  given  in  Onarita,  the  tea-house 

154 


WINTER  NIGHT 

in  front  of  the  temple.  It  is  boiled  in  two  large  iron 
pots  every  evening  after  sunset,  and  in  fine  weather 
twenty-five  gallons  are  consumed  per  night.  Three 
large  bales  of  charcoal  are  used  up  in  one  night  as 
the  warming  fire  in  a  cottage  near  the  tea-house. 
The  roll  for  the  kammairi  is  provided  in  the  tea-house 
too,  and  their  names,  addresses,  and  attendance  are 
perfectly  entered. 

B. — Otakara-uri,  or  Sellers  of  Treasure-Boat  Sheets. 

Otakara-uri  is  an  old  custom  since  the  time  when 
Tokyo  was  called  Yedo  under  the  Tokugawa  Govern- 
ment. Otakara  is  a  small  sheet  of  paper  printed 
with  a  picture  of  a  treasure-boat,  in  which  seven  gods 
of  luck  are  embarked,  and  invaluable  treasures,  such 
as  gold  and  silver  coins,  branches  of  coral,  fabrics 
woven  of  gold  thread,  etc.,  loaded,  and  above  the 
picture  of  the  boat  a  peculiar  poem  is  printed  as 
follows : — 

"  Na  ka  ki  yo  no, 

To  o  no  ne  fu  ri  no, 
Mi  na  me  sa  me, 

Na  mi  no  ri  fu  ne  no, 
O  to  no  yo  ki  ka  na." 

If  you  read  the  poem  vice  versa  from  the  end  to 
the  beginning,  it  will  be  pronounced  in  equal  order  of 
sound.  The  meaning  of  the  poem  is  : — 

"  All  people  awake  from  their  sleep  in  the  long  night 
And   pleasantly  listen   to  sound  of  the  boat  rowing   on  the 
waves." 

In  the  Yedo  age  it  was  generally  believed  that,  if 
a  person  went  to  sleep  with  the  picture-sheet  under 
his  pillow  in  the  night  of  the  second  of  January,  and 
had  any  good  dream,  he  would  be  very  happy  and 
fortunate  during  the  year.  Those  who  went  round 
the  streets  of  the  city  selling  the  pictures  were  called 
the  otakari-uri. 

155 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

At  present,  the  old  custom  still  remains  among  a 
part  of  the  citizens  of  Tokyo,  but  most  of  the  sellers 
of  the  sheets  are  little  boys,  while  up  to  ten  years  ago 
all  of  them  were  young  men.  Towards  the  evening 
of  the  second  day  of  January  there  appear  a  number 
of  otakara-uri  in  all  principal  streets  of  the  city  ; 
among  these  there  are  mingled  young  masters  of  rich 
merchants  and  clever  clerks  of  large  shops,  disguised 
to  be  the  picture-sellers,  and  on  the  other  side  spirited 
young  artisans  come  out  as  temporary  treasure-sheets 
vendors.  All  these  young  fellows  put  on  tasteful 
Japanese  dresses,  and  cover  their  face  with  hand- 
kerchief in  the  style  called  the  Yoshiwara-kaburi  (an 
elegant  way  of  covering  a  part  of  the  face  with  the 
Japanese  long  handkerchief) ;  artisans  wear  new 
momohiki  (dark  blue  cotton  drawers),  and  are  clad  in 
two  or  three  hanten  (dark  blue  cotton  jackets,  the 
common  uniform  for  workmen),  over  which  they  have 
on  a  haori  (a  kind  of  coat),  the  face  being  concealed 
in  the  Yoshiwara-kaburi  too.  First,  having  taken 
a  few  cups  of  sake  (wine),  and  being  good-humoured 
now,  they  go  round  the  streets  in  the  second  evening 
of  the  New  Year  crying,  "  Otakara^  otakara  !  " 

It  is  common  for  amateur  vendors  of  the  pictures 
to  come  into  their  acquainted  houses  and  sell  the 
otakara^  but  some  jump  into  unacquainted  shops  and 
ask  to  buy  the  pictures,  explaining,  "  Good  evening. 
We  have  brought  very  lucky  otakara  for  you !  "  Then 
the  master  or  mistress  of  the  shop  is  very  glad,  and 
says,  "  What  a  spirited  picture  vendor  you  are  !  Give 
me  two  or  three  sheets."  The  purchaser  does  not 
enquire  of  the  price  of  the  picture,  but  gives  them  a 
certain  sum  of  money  wrapped  up  in  paper.  A 
master  of  another  shop  is  so  greatly  satisfied  by  the 
visit  of  vendors  of  "  Sheets  of  Luck,"  that  he  invites 
them  into  the  drawing-room  and  entertains  them 
with  sake  and  dishes  of  the  New  Year. 

In  one  of  the  most  flourishing  streets  of  Nihonbashi, 
the  central  district  of  the  capital,  there  is  a  large 

156 


WINTER  NIGHT 

wholesale  dry  goods  store.  The  No.  2  clerk  of 
the  store,  who  drank  the  New  Year's  wine  together 
with  a  fireman  in  regular  employ  of  the  shop  in 
the  evening  of  the  second  day,  disguised  himself 
out  of  curiosity  to  be  the  otakara-uri>  and  visited 
Yoshiwara  accompanied  by  the  fireman.  When  the 
two  came  near  the  show-room  of  a  house,  one  nice 
girl  called  the  picture  vendor,  and,  after  taking 
five  sheets  from  him,  paid  one  yen  without  any 
enquiry  for  the  price.  Being  much  moved  by  the 
liberal  disposition  of  the  girl,  the  clerk  at  once 
went  into  the  house  to  be  a  guest  of  the  girl,  and 
since  then  having  frequented  her  so  often  the  two 
fell  in  true  love  at  last.  The  result  of  dissipation  on 
the  side  of  the  clerk  was  his  absconding  from  the 
master's  shop,  and  the  girl,  who  had  fallen  into  the 
depth  of  heavy  debts,  was  compelled  to  remove  from 
Yoshiwara  to  a  lower  quarter  at  Shinagawa.  In 
consequence  of  a  picture-sheet  in  the  night  of  the 
2nd  January,  what  a  long  and  bad  dream  they  had ! 

Another  interesting  anecdote  regarding  a  temporary 
vendor  of  treasure-boat  pictures  will  be  given.  A 
young  master  of  a  wealthy  house,  who  intended  to 
be  a  voluntary  otakara-uriy  went  out  to  the  streets 
in  secret  from  all  his  family,  and  when  he  visited  an 
unacquainted  geisha-\\Qusz  at  Yanagibashi,  he  was 
welcomed  by  all  girls  and  maid-servants  there,  because 
he  was  a  handsome  young  man.  "  What  a  luck  for 
us  to  have  a  visit  of  the  Otakarayasan  (Mr  Otakara- 
urt]  like  you  in  this  evening  of  the  New  Year !  Please 
come  in  and  take  time  to  have  your  drinks,"  said 
the  elder  girl  to  the  disguised  young  fellow.  In  the 
meanwhile  a  young  beautiful  geisha,  the  daughter 
of  the  house,  came  back  from  her  engagement  at 
a  restaurant.  She  saw  the  refined  young  man,  talked 
with  him  to  buy  the  picture-sheets,  and  while  she 
was  entertaining  him  with  sake  and  dishes,  she  fell 
in  love  with  him  at  last.  Having  refused  all  engage- 
ments to  restaurants  this  evening,  she  cherished  him 

157 


THE  NIGHTS  IDE  OF  JAPAN 

heartily  ;  he  went  home  late  in  this  night.  After  the 
unexpected  meeting  between  the  two,  both  fell  in 
blind  love  and  continued  to  meet  each  other.  In 
spite  of  advice  and  remonstrance  of  his  parents  and 
relatives  against  his  profligate  conduct,  he  could  not 
give  up  his  girl,  and  was  finally  disinherited  by  his 
father.  The  kind  and  sincere  young  geisha  took  her 
lover  to  her  house  and  was  sustaining  him  for  several 
months.  Being  greatly  moved  by  kindness  and 
constancy  of  the  girl,  the  parents  of  the  young  man 
called  back  their  son  to  home,  and  at  the  same  time 
agreed  to  take  her  to  be  his  wife. 

You  understand  now  how  the  disguised  voluntary 
vendors  of  the  treasure-boat  pictures  are,  but  then 
how  are  the  true  professional  otakara-uri?  It  is 
funny  that,  in  this  singular  business  of  selling  the 
picture-sheets  of  the  New  Year,  the  temporary  sellers 
are  always  much  more  successful  than  the  pro- 
fessionals. Men  who  sell  the  otakara  as  profession 
are  generally  poor  and  clad  in  miserable  clothes, 
carrying  a  large  bundle  of  the  pictures  wrapped  in 
a  big  cloth  tied  up  round  the  neck  ;  their  style  is 
ugly  indeed.  On  the  contrary,  voluntary  vendors 
put  on  a  suit  of  new  dresses  and  the  pictures  are  in 
their  hand  with  no  wrapper  to  cover  them.  It  is 
natural  that  citizens  prefer  to  get  the  sheet  of  luck 
from  the  hand  of  nicely  dressed  otakara-uri  rather 
than  to  buy  it  taken  out  of  the  dirty  old  cloth 
wrapper  on  the  shoulder  of  filthy  men. 

Temporary  otakara-uri  purchase  the  pictures  of 
treasure-boot  from  the  professional  sellers  or  from 
picture-shops  called  the  ezoshiya  in  neighbourhood. 
Each  seller  generally  buys  one  or  two  hundred  sheets 
and  the  wholesale  price  is  ten  sen  or  less  per  hundred. 
Before  he  runs  out  to  the  streets  it  is  necessary  for 
him  to  take  some  cups  of  sake  for  the  purpose  of 
enlivening  himself,  and  it  is  funny  indeed  that  the 
cost  of  wine  is  much  more  than  the  capital  for 
merchandise.  If  he  is  fortunate  enough  to  sell  well 


WINTER  NIGHT 

at  the  price  of  one  or  two  sen  per  sheet,  he  is  very 
glad  in  anticipation  that  he  will  be  lucky  in  this  year, 
and,  on  pretence  of  congratulation  in  advance  for  the 
future  happiness,  he  visits  his  acquainted  restaurant 
and  exhausts  all  the  pocket  money,  including  the 
proceeds  of  otakara  just  earned  in  this  night. 

C. — Sobaya,  or  Buckwheat  Shops. 

In  Japan — with  no  exception  of  every  town  or 
village — there  is  an  old  curious  custom  with  regard 
to  buckwheat  dishes.  The  Japanese  have  a  habit  to 
eat  soba  in  the  evening  of  the  last  day  of  every  month 
and  year.  From  what  time  the  custom  was  originated 
and  by  what  reason  they  have  to  eat  it,  are  unknown. 
It  is,  however,  certain  that  the  strange  habit  was 
prevalent  in  the  Age  of  Yedo,  and  some  people 
explain  the  reason  as  follows : — 

Soba  is  long  and  slender  substance  like  threads 
made  of  flour  of  buckwheat.  If  you  eat  it  at  the 
end  of  every  month  and  year,  your  health  and 
happiness  will  continue  long  in  future,  just  as  the 
soba  is  long.  Consequently  all  the  Japanese  like 
to  eat  buckwheat  dishes  in  expectation  of  their 
constant  welfare. 

We  don't  know  whether  the  interpretation  for  the 
custom  is  correct  or  not,  but  at  anyrate  you  will 
wonder  that  there  are  no  people  who  are  so  fond 
of  soba  as  the  citizens  of  Tokyo  at  present ;  the 
habit  of  .ftp&z-eating  seems  to  have  gradually  grown 
up  to  the  nature  of  the  Tokyomans.  It  is  true  that 
the  buckwheat  shops  are  most  flourishing  at  any 
season  among  all  other  eating-houses  in  the  city. 
There  are  over  eight  hundred  sobaya  throughout  the 
city  at  present,  and  in  the  shops  most  popular  and 
celebrated  they  are  said  to  count  the  proceeds  of 
over  one  hundred  yen  per  day,  average  price  per 
bowl  being  from  three  to  twelve  sen.  While  all 
restaurants  and  eating-houses  shut  up  their  shops  at 

159 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

twelve  at  night,  only  the  buckwheat  merchants  open 
their  shops  generally  till  2  A.M.  Certainly  the  hot 
soba  in  winter  night  is  the  favourite  dishes  of  citizens, 
giving  agreeable  warmth  to  their  body. 

There  may  be  the  Tokyo  citizens  who  omit  to 
take  soba  at  the  end  of  the  month,  but  it  is  very 
rare  that  they  neglect  to  eat  the  dishes  even  in  the 
New  Year's  Eve.  Consequently,  in  this  one;night, 
all  sobaya  at  least  sell  the  double  quantity  of  soba 
sold  at  the  end  of  other  months.  According  to  a 
statistical  report,  cost  of  buckwheat  consumed  by 
all  Tokyo  citizens  in  one  night  of  the  New  Year's 
Eve  is  said  to  amount  to  yen  56,160  or  £5,616! 

Besides  the  shops  of  buckwheat  above  explained, 
there  are  another  kind  of  buckwheat  merchants, 
which  is  called  the  yonaki-soba,  or  yosobauri.  They 
are  peddlers  of  soba  in  night  only,  carrying  their 
stall  on  the  shoulder  or  driving  it  on  wheels. 
Peculiarity  of  the  buckwheat  stall  in  night  is  that 
a  small  bell  is  attached  to  its  one  side,  and  when 
the  peddlers  march  on  streets  calling  out,  "  Soba- 
woo-iy  soba-woo-i  I "  tinkling  of  the  bell  follows 
always.  The  best  customers  for  the  yonaki-soba  are 
the  street  ramblers  late  at  night,  and,  especially  in 
the  night  of  cold  winter,  the  hot  buckwheat  dishes 
sold  by  these  stalls  are  the  best  refreshment  for 
them. 

D. — Amma,  or  Shampooers. 

In  the  night  streets  of  Tokyo  through  all  seasons, 
specially  in  cold  winter,  you  hear  whistles  and  cries 
of  "Amma  amma!"  These  are  blind  shampooers, 
male  and  female,  who  are  wandering  in  streets 
expecting  people  to  engage  them.  In  Japan  the 
shampoo  work  is  generally  taken  by  blind  people, 
though  there  is  a  class  of  persons  with  ordinary 
sight  living  on  the  calling  of  shampooing  too.  Old 
and  experienced  shampooers  take  their  business  at 
home,  and,  when  sent  for  go  to  their  customers,  but 

1 60 


WINTER  NIGHT 

young  masseur  and  masseuse  are  in  the  habit  of 
going  out  to  the  streets  in  night,  and,  being  called 
into  some  houses,  sit  at  work  on  the  body  of  those 
who  are  in  demand  for  massage. 

A  small  bamboo  whistle  and  a  long  wood  staff 
are  the  two  instruments  indispensable  for  the  street 
shampooers — whistles  tell  coming  of  them,  and  the 
wood  staff  helps  the  blind  to  avoid  dangers  on  the 
road.  Being  aided  and  protected  by  these  two 
implements,  they  have  to  go  out  every  night  whether 
the  weather  be  fine  or  rainy,  even  in  the  windy,  cold 
winter,  wandering  on  the  streets  from  six  to  after 
midnight.  Then,  what  sum  of  money  can  these 
poor  blind  earn  by  such  a  hard  night  task?  If  you 
are  told  that  a  young  inexperienced  shampooer  can 
get  only  five  to  ten  yen  in  winter  and  eight  to  fifteen 
in  summer  as  his  monthly  income,  while  the  latter  is 
said  to  be  the  busiest  season  among  his  circle,  you 
will  feel  what  a  pity  it  is  for  him  to  live  such  a 
miserable  life  in  his  permanent  dark  world.  Further 
than  this,  sometimes  he  is  so  unfortunate  that, 
although  he  has  been  wandering  on  the  streets  till 
past  midnight,  whistling  and  loudly  crying:  " Amma, 
kami-shimo!"  (kamishimo  means  to  shampoo  the 
whole  body  from  the  head  down  to  the  feet),  he 
is  utterly  engaged  by  nobody,  and  on  such  an 
unlucky  night  it  happens  often  that  he  falls  into 
a  ditch  or  shoks  against  a  telegraph  pole  by  the 
roadside.  Such  a  night  is  called  an  infelicitous 
epoch  by  his  circle,  and  as  soon  as  he  comes  home 
very  late  with  his  empty  purse  he  offers  earnest 
prayers  for  his  devoted  shrine  or  temple  to  bless 
him  in  the  following  nights. 

Young  apprentices  of  an  old  shampooer  have  to 
give  up  to  their  master  all  the  money  they  have 
earned  every  night,  and  receive  its  five,  ten,  or  fifteen 
per  cent,  from  him,  while  they  are  lodging  in  his 
house,  and  supplied  with  food  and  clothes  by  him 
too.  It  is  natural  that  these  young  blind  endeavour 

161  L 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

to  earn  as  much  as  they  can,  because  the  more  they 
pay  to  the  master,  the  more  they  can  get  their 
pocket  money. 

There  are  two  thousand  and  five  hundred  blind 
masseur  and  masseuse  in  Tokyo,  and,  the  male  and 
the  female  being  almost  equal  in  their  number,  there 
is  no  inconvenience  among  them  to  marry  each 
other  when  they  arrive  at  maturity  —  a  strange 
phenomenon  in  the  world  of  blind  people  but  a 
happy  combination  between  the  pitiful  two  sexes. 

It  is  a  question  how  the  blind  and  inexperienced 
shampooers  can  come  home  without  fail  after  having 
gone  round  to  a  far  distance  every  night.  They  tell 
that  they  go  and  come  back  by  the  ear  and  the 
nose  —  they  remember  the  smells  of  tempura-ya 
(shops  of  fried  fish),  yakiimo-ya  (shops  of  roast  sweet 
potatoes),  and  kabayaki-ya  (shops  of  broiled  eels), 
or  they  can  discern  stream  of  water-drains  or  sound 
of  flowing  in  ditches,  and  when  they  happen  to 
arrive  at  crossroads  or  come  to  near  the  by-street 
where  their  house  is  situated,  they  can  distinguish 
the  direction  by  the  flow  of  air.  Their  sensation  is 
very  keen,  but  in  the  night  of  the  coldest  winter, 
they  miss  to  catch  their  aim,  and  are  often  bewildered 
in  the  chilling  wind  till  two  or  three  on  the  morning. 

As  previously  explained,  though  the  shampooers 
in  Tokyo  are  generally  not  higher  in  their  social 
rank,  yet  there  are  exceptions  of  course.  Some 
attend  to  the  Bureau  of  Court  Physicians  in  the 
Imperial  Household  Department  and  give  the 
massage  treatment  to  court  ladies  and  others  ;  some 
have  heaped  up  millions  by  their  single  hand,  and 
occupy  the  honourable  positions.  If  you  compare 
them  to  those  who  are  going  in  the  streets  with 
the  whistle  and  cries  of  "  Amma.  .  .,"  what  a  great 
bay  lays  between  the  two! 

To  be  an  accomplished  shampooer  he  must  be 
trained  as  apprentice  under  a  skilful  master,  and 
the  period  of  apprenticeship  is  generally  five  to  seven 

162 


WINTER  NIGHT 

years,  though  there  may  be  differences  according  to 
the  age  of  the  beginners.  During  apprenticeship,  he 
is  supplied  by  the  master  with  sustenance,  livery, 
and  pocket  money,  as  already  explained.  After  one 
year  and  a  half,  he  is  allowed  to  take  simple  work 
for  the  customers  of  his  master,  and  the  wages  got 
by  him  are  all  taken  into  the  master's  hand.  If  he 
completed  the  long  apprenticeship  of  five  or  seven 
years,  he  cannot  yet  open  his  independent  business 
instantly;  first  he  must  apply  for  the  examination 
to  the  Metropolitan  Police,  and,  if  he  passed  it, 
next  he  has  to  get  the  sanction  of  the  President  of 
the  Tokyo  Massage  Association.  In  spite  of  great 
troubles  before  he  can  open  his  business  he  is  very- 
humble  and  obedient,  or  you  may  say  that  he  is 
in  good  development  for  morality.  After  he  opened 
his  business,  he  never  trespasses  on  the  scope  of 
business  of  his  master,  and  never  settles  his  home 
near  his,  too.  Such  kind  of  the  amma  does  not  go 
out  to  the  street  in  night,  but  takes  his  business 
at  home  any  time  in  night  and  day,  though  some 
are  compelled  to  go  crying  out  of  doors,  most  of 
the  street  goers  being  those  within  the  term  of 
apprenticeship. 

Wages  of  a  shampooer  at  home  -  work  is  twenty 
to  fifty  sen  for  the  treatment  of  one  hour,  and  his 
general  income  per  month  is  twenty  to  thirty  yen. 
It  is  said  to  be  very  hard  for  him  to  earn  fifty  or 
sixty  yen  monthly. 


163 


CHAPTER  XV 
WINTER  NIGHT  (continued) 

E. — Nabeyaki-udon,  or  Hawkers  of  Macaroni  Cooked 
and  Served  in  Pots 

IF  the  mere  name  of  the  Nabeyaki-udon  is  spoken 
of,  at  an  instant  you  recollect  something  poetical 
in  your  mind  and  feel  some  warmness  in  your  body 
at  a  very  cold  night.  The  cold  north  wind  is  now 
raging  through  the  desolated  streets  near  the  dead  of 
a  severe  winter  night,  and  citizens  are  all  dreaming 
in  their  snug  bed,  when  suddenly  the  loneliness  is 
broken  by  cries  of  a  nabeyaki-udon,  whose  voice 
echoes  horribly  and  sadly  as  if  pains  and  distresses 
of  life  are  groaned  out.  What  kind  of  people  will 
welcome  this  night  hawker  at  such  a  very  late 
hour? 

At  one  side  of  his  old  rough  portable  stall  there 
hangs  a  dimly  lighted,  long,  square  paper  lantern, 
and  an  old  man  clad  in  shabby  padded  clothes, 
his  legs  protected  with  the  almost  discoloured  dark- 
blue  cotton  drawers,  is  crouching  in  front  of  a  small 
furnace,  on  which  two  or  three  little  pots  of  macaroni 
are  put,  and  kindling  the  charcoal  fire  by  fanning 
with  an  old  round-fan  in  order  to  cook  them  quickly. 
Around  the  dealer  three  men  stand  waiting  for 
preparation  of  dishes,  in  spite  of  coldness  of  the 
cutting  norther.  Who  are  the  three?  Judging  by 
their  dresses,  two  of  them  seem  to  be  clerks  of  a 

164 


WINTER  NIGHT 

certain  shop  and  the  other  a  young  artisan.  You 
may  be  quite  correct  if  you  judge  them  all  to  be 
on  their  way  home  from  a  certain  gaiety-quarter 
after  they  have  spent  a  merry  evening.  All  of 
them  are  cold  and  hungry,  and  devour  up  each 
three  or  four  pots  in  a  few  minutes.  Their  body 
gets  warm  and  their  stomach  is  full,  and  then, 
paying  the  price,  they  run  away  under  the  strong 
wind ;  the  old  hawker  still  stops  at  the  same  spot 
and  is  calling  out,  "  Na-a-be-ya-a-ki-udo-o-n  \ "  expect- 
ing the  next  customers  to  come. 

If  you  are  told  that  the  number  of  the  hot 
macaroni  hawkers  in  the  city  are  increased  every 
winter,  you  can  understand  how  popularly  the  dishes 
are  welcomed  among  the  citizens  of  Tokyo.  Utensils 
necessary  for  the  business  are  earthen  pots  and 
bowls ;  most  of  the  customers  are  fond  to  eat  the 
udon  directly  out  of  the  pot  itself  which  was  heated 
on  the  fire,  hence  the  name  of  the  nabeyaki-udon> 
but  others  prefer  to  taste  it  after  it  was  taken  from 
the  pot  into  a  fine  earthen  bowl.  So  the  merchant 
must  be  very  careful  to  discriminate  the  kind  of 
guests  whether  they  like  pots  or  bowls.  Besides  a 
quantity  of  macaroni  in  the  pot,  a  piece  of  fish- 
flesh,  vegetable,  and  laver  are  added  in  its  hot  broth, 
and  the  dish  costs  two  sen  and  a  half  or  three  sen 
per  pot  or  bowl.  The  total  number  of  the  nabeyaki- 
udon  dealers  in  the  city  are  about  three  thousand, 
and  most  of  them  live  in  the  narrow  lanes  of  Honjo 
and  Hatchobori  districts. 

The  best  customers  for  them  are  the  machiai 
(waiting  houses),  in  various  quarters  inhabited  by 
the  geisha,  and  next,  the  classes  of  people  who  are 
fond  of  the  dish  and  eat  it  standing  on  the  way- 
side, are  labourers,  students,  and  salarymen  of  lower 
rank.  It  is  strange  that  the  rikisk&ttoeb  are  haughty 
enough  to  avoid  eating  the  hot  udon  by  standing 
before  the  nabeyaki  stall.  A  macaroni  hawker  sells 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pots  per  night.  Towards  the 

165 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

evening,  when  the  electric  or  gas  lamps  begin  to  be 
lighted,  they  come  out  of  their  nasty  den  carrying 
the  stall  on  the  shoulder.  The  high  tide  of  their 
business  is  after  midnight,  when  people  on  the  way 
home  from  the  variety  hall  or  gay  quarter  want 
to  eat  the  hot  udon,  or  the  guests  in  a  waiting 
house  out  of  half  a  joke  call  and  take  the  curious 
night  dishes ;  their  trade  is  continued  till  2  or 
3  A.M.  The  greater  part  of  the  nabeyaki  pedlars 
pass  the  night  on  the  street,  and  it  is  after  dawn 
when  they  come  back  to  home. 

December  is  the  most  flourishing  month  for  the 
macaroni  business  throughout  the  year,  and  those 
nights  from  the  2/th  to  the  New  Year's  Eve  they 
sell  best.  Then  what  is  their  profit  in  one  night? 
Deducting  all  expenses,  they  can  easily  get  the 
net  profit  of  one  and  a  half  or  two  yen  in  a  usual 
night,  thus  the  total  amount  of  the  profits  per  month 
in  the  cold  season  being  rather  a  big  sum  of  fifty 
or  sixty  yen  for  the  merchants  of  such  a  lowest 
class.  In  spite  of  the  daily  income  regular  and 
tolerable,  however,  they  are  always  poor,  living  in 
the  smallest  cottage  or  in  a  dirty  room  of  the 
lowest  inn.  They  are  bachelors  generally,  and  very 
idle  in  their  bad  habits;  if  it  rains,  most  of  them 
do  not  like  to  go  out  for  business.  The  period  of 
their  business  is  limited  to  the  winter,  from  November 
to  February,  and  they  must  change  their  calling  for 
the  rest  of  the  year. 

F. — Yakiimoya,  or  Shops  of  Roast  Sweet  Potato 
In  one  cold  moonlight  night  of  winter  you  meet 
a  little  girl  at  a  corner  of  a  busy  small  street  and 
recognise  something  in  a  cloth  wrapper  carried  by 
her  hand  ;  out  of  the  cloth  wrapper  steam  is  vapor- 
ing up  into  the  cold  air.  At  an  instant  you  under- 
stand that  she  is  on  the  way  back  from  a  yakiimoya, 
after  having  purchased  some  roast  sweet  potatoes. 

1 66 


WINTER  NIGHT 

Now  what  is  the  so-called  yaki-imo,  or  roast  sweet 
potato?     Well,  it  will  be  explained  here. 

The  yaki-imo  is  sweet  potato  roasted  in  a  special 
furnace,  and  smaller  ones  of  the  potato  are  baked 
at  their  own  original  round  form,  but  larger  ones 
put  in  the  furnace  after  each  is  cut  into  three  or 
four  small  pieces.  When  it  is  baked,  salt  is  sprinkled 
on  its  outside  in  order  to  give  it  a  little  salt  taste 
to  season  its  original  sweet  savour.  It  is  the  most 
favourite  food  for  the  females  and  children.  When 
it  approaches  autumn,  most  of  the  ice-water  shops 
during  summer  change  into  the  yakiimoya^  and  the 
food  being  always  very  hot,  boys  and  girls  are 
very  glad  to  taste  the  sweet  potato  in  winter  night 
as  the  repast  during  their  idle  gossiping.  If  you 
go  through  by-streets  in  every  district  of  Tokyo, 
you  will  find  the  long  and  square  paper  lanterns 
on  which  the  terms  yaki-imo  (roast  potato)  are 
marked,  and  in  front  of  these  shops,  maid-servants 
and  girls  of  lower  class  are  gathering  to  buy  the 
hot  sweets.  Poor  students  from  the  country  cannot 
taste  the  sweet  cakes  of  good  confectioneries,  and, 
in  place  of  them,  are  satisfied  by  eating  the  yaki- 
imo  in  their  room  of  the  lowest  boarding  -  house. 
The  poorest  inhabitants  in  the  Honjo  and  Asakusa 
Wards,  hardly  living^  in  a  dirty  tenement  house  or 
the  lowest  inn  called  the  kichinyado,  cannot  often 
get  money  enough  to  buy  the  rice,  the  usual  meal 
of  the  Japanese,  and  then  they  are  compelled  to 
appease  their  appetite  by  taking  the  roast  potato 
until  they  get  sufficient  means  for  provision.  Yet,  the 
children  of  these  needy  folks  are  sometimes  rather 
glad  to  have  the  yaki-imo  than  to  be  supplied  by  their 
parents  with  tasteless  food  consisting  of  half -rotten 
rice  and  little  pieces  of  old  fish-flesh  mixed  into  dried- 
up  vegetable.  Anyhow,  \b&  yaki-imo  is  not  the  food  of 
noble  class,  but  is  rather  of  common  or  democratic. 

By  the  way,  the  origin  or  history  of  the  yaki-imo 
will  be  explained. 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

Sweet  potato  was  first  imported  from  the  South 
China  into  Japan,  and,  having  been  cultivated  in 
Loochoo  and  Koshiki  Islands  since  old  times,  the 
inhabitants  in  these  islands  adopted  it  as  their 
daily  food  in  place  of  rice,  wheat,  or  beans.  Its 
first  importation  into  the  inland  is  attributed  to 
the  present  from  the  King  of  the  Loochoo  to 
Shimadzu  the  Feudal  Lord  of  Satsuma  Province 
in  Kyushu.  Having  experienced  its  good  taste, 
the  men  of  Shimadzu  procured  its  seeds  by  send- 
ing order  to  Loochoo  and  cultivated  it  in  the  fief 
of  their  lord.  Afterwards,  the  sweet  potato  was 
gradually  spread  so  far  to  Yedo,  and  it  was  less 
than  two  hundred  years  ago  when  the  food  became 
very  popular  among  the  citizens  of  the  capital  under 
the  name  of  the  Loochoo  potato. 

At  the  time  when  the  sweet  potato  was  first 
introduced  into  Yedo  there  was  a  famous  scholar 
called  Bunzo  Aoki.  He  made  efforts  to  recommend 
the  food  for  the  citizens,  so  that  he  himself  adopted 
his  pseudonym  as  "  Kansho-Sensei,"  which  means 
"  Father  of  Sweet  Potato."  He  earnestly  persuaded 
to  the  Governor  of  Yedo  the  cultivation  of  the  plant, 
and  urged  the  reasons  of  its  utility  both  by  tongue 
and  pen,  explaining  that  it  is  the  best  provision 
against  the  time  of  famine  and  that  it  supplies  the 
cheap  food  for  the  poor.  Adopting  the  proposal 
of  the  scholar,  the  Governor  Oka  stated  it  to  the 
Shogunal  Government,  and  cultivated  the  plant  for 
trial  at  the  garden  of  Fukiage  in  the  Castle  of  Yedo 
and  the  medical  plantation  of  Koishikawa.  The 
tomb  of  "The  Father  of  Sweet  Potato"  is  in  the 
ground  of  the  Temple  Fudo  at  Meguro,  the  south- 
western suburb  of  Tokyo,  and  on  the  anniversary 
of  his  death  a  prosperous  festival  is  held  every 
year  by  the  Guild  of  the  wholesale  merchants  of 
sweet  potato  in  the  city. 

The  potato,  which  was  first  planted  in  trial  at  a 
garden  corner  of  the  Yedo  Castle  and  a  part  of  the 

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WINTER  NIGHT 

medical  garden,  is  now  cultivated  in  the  fields  all 
round  the  city,  just  as  rice  and  wheat,  and  taken  as 
the  favourite  food  for  females  and  children.  There 
is  a  big  difference  of  its  taste,  according  to  the 
degree  of  fertility  of  the  soil,  and,  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  city,  those  produced  at  Kawagaye  are  famous 
for  their  best  relish.  Besides  supplying  the  sweet 
food  for  females  and  children,  spirits  and  alcohol 
are  taken  from  the  sweet  potato.  Since  ancient 
times  the  natives  of  the  islands  Hachijo  and 
Ogasawara  have  been  very  fond  of  a  kind  of  wine 
called  Imo-zake  (Potato  Wine)  and  the  islanders 
of  Loochoo  make  the  nice  spirit  named  Awamori 
from  the  potato,  too. 


G. — In  the  Age  of  Yedo 

In  the  age  when  Tokyo  was  called  Yedo  and  the 
whole  country  of  Japan  governed  by  the  Shogun  of 
Tokugawa,  all  feudal  lords  living  in  the  capital  had 
to  attend  the  Castle  of  the  Shogun  on  the  New 
Year's  Day  before  dawn.  They  put  on  different 
ceremonial  dresses  according  to  their  ranks :  the 
noshime  (silk  robe),  shijira  noshime  (crape  robe), 
kamishimo,  hoi,  daimon  (long  robe  with  a  number  of 
large  crests)  and  sud  (flowing  garment)  were  kinds 
of  court  dresses  on  the  ceremonious  occasions. 
Before  the  dawn  and  still  in  the  dark  of  the  first 
and  second  days  of  January,  the  retinue  of  the  lord 
all  put  on  the  kamishimo  and,  girding  high  up  the 
hakama  (a  kind  of  pantaloons)  and  exposing  their 
naked  shins  to  the  cutting  wind,  followed  him.  The 
retinue  was  divided  into  the  two  parts,  the  front  and 
the  rear,  and  the  palanquin  of  the  daimyo,  or  lord, 
carried  at  the  midst  of  the  retinue ;  the  train  of  the 
lord  of  Kaga  province,  the  greatest  daimyo,  is  said  to 
have  been  as  long  as  it  continued  for  almost  two 
furlongs.  Until  the  lord  came  out  of  the  castle, 

169 


THE   NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

these  retainers  had  to  await  him  sitting  down  on 
the  mats  spread  over  the  board  floorings  established 
near  the  castle  gates  of  Wadagura,  Shirakawaguchi, 
or  Nijubashi,  of  course  their  naked  shins  being 
exposed  to  the  cold  wind  of  early  morning  just  as 
on  their  way  to  the  castle.  When  the  retinue  of  a 
daimyo  was  on  its  march,  two  or  three  forerunners 
first  came  ahead,  crying :  "  Shitani-oroy  Shita-ni-oro  !  " 
(Be  down !)  and  farmers  or  merchants  who  happened 
to  meet  the  retinue  were  to  squat  down  on  the 
ground  until  the  whole  of  it  passed  away. 

Merchants  went  round  for  their  New  Year's  visit, 
putting  on  the  kamishimo  dress  and  carrying  a 
small  sword  at  the  waist,  generally  followed  by  a 
servant  or  boy.  They  called  on  their  customers 
and  gave  them  the  New  Year's  gift,  called  the 
Toshidama^  which  commonly  consisted  of  fans  con- 
tained in  a  long  white  wooden  box,  paper,  handker- 
chiefs, or  cakes.  When  the  master  of  a  large  store 
went  to  pay  the  New  Year's  visit,  he  was  followed 
by  a  fireman  of  his  regular  employ  and  two  or 
three  boys  ;  the  fireman  put  on  the  leather  coat 
given  by  the  master  and  carried  a  lacquered  box 
called  the  hasamtbako,  in  which  the  New  Year's 
presents  are  contained,  and  the  boys  distributed 
the  presents  to  each  customer.  Physicians  went 
round  to  offer  the  congratulations  of  the  New  Year, 
putting  on  a  special  coat  called  the  jittoku,  and 
followed  by  a  servant  after  the  seventh  day,  and 
priests  had  to  visit  after  the  eleventh  day  of  January. 
Samurai  distributed  name-cards  to  their  acquainted 
houses,  and  if  they  came  to  those  of  their  intimate 
friends,  they  expressed  congratulations  by  seeing 
somebody  of  the  house. 

In  the  night  of  the  sixth  of  January  citizens  had 
to  prepare  the  peculiar  food  called  the  nanakusa-no- 
kayu  to  be  eaten  on  the  morning  of  the  seventh 
day.  The  Yanakusa-no-kayu  means  "  A  medley 
rice  gruel  mixed  with  seven  kinds  of  greens/' 

170 


WINTER  NIGHT 

Before  the  greens  are  cut  into  little  pieces,  they 
are  beaten  on  the  chopping-block,  called  the 
manaita,  by  turns  with  the  seven  kinds  of  the 
kitchen  utensils  in  the  night  of  the  sixth;  the 
seven  tools  are  saibashi  (chopsticks  used  for  help- 
ing fish  or  vegetables),/&£z-<2fo/££?  (bamboo  blow-pipe), 
surikogi  (wooden  pestle),  hibashi  (tongs),  otama- 
shakushi  (wooden  ladle  for  serving  soup),  meshi- 
jakushi  (wooden  spoon  for  serving  out  rice)  and 
hocho  (knife.)  While  they  are  beaten,  a  peculiar 
and  interesting  song  is  sung  by  the  beater  accom- 
panying the  beating  time.  The  song  runs  as 
follows  : — 

"  Seven  kinds  of  greens, 
Including  shepherd's  purse  ; 
Before  the  birds  of  China 
Fly  over  to  the  land  of  Japan." 

The  custom  of  preparing  the  rice  gruel  of  seven 
greens  in  the  night  of  the  6th  has  been  generally 
prevailing  among  the  citizens  of  Tokyo,  and  at 
present  those  are  very  few  who  eat  the  congee  on 
the  morning  of  the  7th  of  January. 

By  the  way,  we  shall  describe  the  special  visitors  in 
the  streets  of  the  capital  at  the  beginning  of  January, 
though  their  frequentations  were  not  limited  to  the 
night  only.  They  were  manzai,  torioi,  hazeuri,  harai- 
ogibako,  and  otakara-uri,  which  has  been  already 
explained. 

The  origin  of  the  manzai  was  the  farmers  of  the 
Mikawa  and  Owari  provinces,  who  first  came  up  to 
Yedo  to  celebrate  the  prosperity  of  lyeyasu,  the 
first  Shogun  of  the  Tokugawa  family  and  once  the 
lord  of  the  Mikawa  province.  They  danced,  singing  : 
"  My  lord,  long  live  and  prosper  forever ! "  They 
were  permitted  to  come  up  every  year  and  called 
the  manzai,  which  means  "  long  live."  Afterwards, 
however,  poor  people  in  the  city  disguised  themselves 
to  be  the  strolling  comic  musicians  and  dancers  at 
the  beginning  of  every  year,  and  went  round  from 

171 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

house  to  house  in  all  streets.  The  manzai  put  on 
the  head  a  kind  of  cap  called  the  Kazaori  -  eboshi 
and  was  dressed  in  a  long  robe  of  daimon,  always 
accompanied  by  his  comrade  called  the  Saizo.  He 
wore  a  cap  named  the  natto-eboshi  and  was  dressed 
in  the  same  way  as  manzai^  following  him  beating  a 
tsuzumi  (a  drum  shaped  like  an  hour-glass).  Singing 
and  dancing,  they  went  round  the  city,  and  got  money, 
rice  or  mochi  (pieces  of  rice  bread)  from  the  citizens. 

Torioi  were  wives  and  daughters  of  the  people 
of  the  lowest  class  living  in  Yedo  and  went  about 
begging  from  house  to  house  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year,  playing  on  the  samisen  and  singing  a 
peculiar  song.  They  put  on  the  braided  hat  named 
amigasa  and  made  of  rush.  It  covered  the  entire 
head,  the  face  and  all,  and  was  tied  with  red  ribbons 
under  the  chin.  They  wore  on  newly  made  silk 
dresses.  When  they  stood  near  a  shop  of  merchant 
or  the  gate  of  a  house  and  began  to  sing  with  their 
lifted  -  up  tone  of  voice,  accompanied  by  the  skilful 
samisen,  their  feature  was  very  lovely  and  charming. 

Soon  after  the  midnight  of  the  New  Year's  Eve. 
there  appeared  the  so-called  haze-uri^  who  sold  the 
parched  rice  called  haze.  They  went  round  the 
streets,  crying  :  "  Haze-yah>  haze-yak  !  "  In  another 
meaning,  the  word  haze  means  "  completed "  or 
"ended,"  and  these  haze-uri  gave  a  warning  to 
citizens  that,  "  The  New  Year's  Eve  has  ended,"  or 
"The  New  Year's  Day  begins  to  dawn." 

After  the  twelfth  of  January  there  came  mer- 
chants called  the  Harai-ogibako  in  the  streets,  and 
their  business  was  to  buy  from  all  houses  the  fans 
in  box  given  by  the  New  Year's  visitors  as  presents. 

H. — Mochi-  Tsuki 

The  peculiar  custom  throughout  Japan  for  con- 
gratulation of  the  New  Year  is  to  eat  the  zoni-mochi 
every  morning  for  the  first  three  days  of  January. 

172 


WINTER  NIGHT 

The  zoni-mochi  is  a  kind  of  medley  soup  made  by 
boiling  rice  cakes  (mochi)  fish  and  various  vegetables 
together,  and  in  order  to  make  the  New  Year's  feast, 
every  house  must  prepare  the  mochi  before  the  end 
of  the  year. 

One  night  after  the  twentieth  of  December  you 
stroll  about  in  a  street  near  the  bridge  Nihonbashi 
and  hear  a  bustling  sound  somewhere  near  a  large 
restaurant.  Stepping  into  the  back  gate  and  coming 
to  the  rear  yard  of  the  house,  you  find  a  number  of 
men  and  women  who  are  now  in  the  midst  of  the 
ftMfiftl-making.  At  the  centre  of  the  yard  there  stands 
a  large  wooden  mortar  in  which  the  mochi  is  beaten, 
and  on  one  side  of  it,  about  three  yards  off,  the  fire 
is  vigorously  burning  under  a  big  earthen  furnace ; 
on  the  furnace  a  pile  of  steaming  vessels,  called  the 
setro,  is  regularly  arranged,  and  in  each  of  the  vessels 
mochigome,  or  glutinous  rice,  is  put  in  to  be  steamed. 
When  the  rice  is  steamed  up  well  a  man  takes  down 
the  vessel  and  empties  the  rice  out  of  it  into  the 
mortar.  At  same  moment  three  or  four  men,  each 
holding  a  wooden  pestle  and  standing  around  the 
mortar,  begin  to  pound  the  steamed  rice.  In  the 
intervals  of  pounding  two  women,  standing  between 
the  men,  have  to  knead  the  beaten  rice  with  their 
hands  wet  by  immersing  into  the  clean  water  prepared 
in  the  buckets  near  themselves.  Thus  pounding  and 
kneading  are  repeated  for  some  ten  or  twenty 
minutes,  beating  time  by  shouts  of  both  the  men 
and  women. 

When  the  rice  in  the  mortar  is  completely  beaten 
up  into  the  mochi  or  rice-bread,  it  is  taken  out  of 
the  mortar  on  a  large  square  table  arranged  on  the 
other  side  of  the  mortar,  just  opposite  to  the  furnace, 
/•round  the  table  three  or  four  men  and  women  are 
waiting  for  the  mass  of  new  mochi^  strewing  the 
wheaten  flour  all  over  the  surface  of  the  table.  As 
soon  as  the  mass  of  rice  cake  is  taken  on  the  flour, 
it  is  rolled  by  them  into  flat  pieces,  called  the 

173 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

nashimochi,  or  made  into  small  round  bits.  The 
glutinous  rice  in  the  steaming  vessels  is  thus  one 
after  another  changed  into  the  mochi.  The  flat 
nashimochi  is  afterwards  cut  into  small  pieces  of 
some  three  inches  square,  which  are  boiled  in  the 
zoni  soup,  to  be  served  for  the  New  Year's  feast,  and 
the  small  round  pieces,  which  are  sometimes  taken 
for  the  zoni-mochi  in  the  same  way,  are  generally 
adopted  as  the  New  Year's  offering  to  the  temple 
or  shrine  devoted  by  the  master  of  the  house.  The 
mochz-tsuki,  or  rice -bread  making,  being  performed 
at  almost  every  house  in  the  city,  the  nights  near 
the  end  of  the  year  are  noisy  and  stirring  with  sound 
of  pounding  and  laughter  of  women. 


174 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  KARUTA-KAI  (MEETING  FOR  CARD-PLAYING 
IN   A  JANUARY   NIGHT) 

BOYS  and  girls — nay,  even  young  ladies  and  gentle- 
men— of  the  families  above  the  middle  class  living 
in  the  city  are  pleased  by  playing  the  game  of  cards 
in  January  nights.  When  a  house  is  to  hold  a 
meeting  for  the  game,  the  friends,  male  and  female, 
of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  house  are  previ- 
ously invited  to  join  the  meeting.  On  the  appointed 
time,  a  great  number  of  champions  of  the  game 
assemble  from  all  directions  to  the  house,  and  the 
game  is  opened  soon.  It  is  repeatedly  carried  on 
till  midnight  or  later,  and  sometimes  enthusiastic 
fighters  are  entirely  absorbed  in  the  game/so  that 
it  is  often  continued  till  after  the  dawn  on  the 
next  morning. 

The  cards  generally  used  by  them  are  utterly 
different  from  those  used  by  the  Europeans,  and 
are  the  ones  characteristic  to  the  Japanese  only. 
They  are  called  the  Utagaruta,  or  Poem  Cards,  one 
pack  of  which  consists  of  one  hundred  pieces,  and 
upon  each  of  them  a  Japanese  short  poem  is  written, 
the  hundred  poems  in  all  being  those  composed  by 
very  famous  poets,  poetesses,  nobles,  and  court  ladies 
in  ancient  times.  To  play  the  cards,  first  the  whole 
body  of  players  is  divided  by  lot  into  two,  three,  or 
more  parties,  and  one  hundred  pieces  of  the  cards 
are  equally  distributed  among  them.  Besides  the 

175 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

players  there  is  a  person  called  the  yomite,  or  reader ; 
he  keeps  another  pack  of  the  same  cards  in  his  own 
hand,  and  recites  each  poem  one  after  another  with 
loud  voice.  When  a  poem  is  read  up  by  the  yomite^ 
the  piece  of  the  card  with  the  corresponding  poem 
in  the  hand  of  one  of  the  players  is  to  be  excepted 
out  of  the  game  seat.  On  the  side  of  the  players, 
a  certain  number  of  cards  equally  distributed  to  each 
party  are  all  to  be  openly  arranged  before  members 
of  the  party,  in  such  a  good  order  that  all  members 
in  the  other  parties,  as  well  as  yours,  can  easily  see 
and  read  the  poem  on  each  card.  While  the  members 
of  your  party  have  the  duty  to  find  out  and  take 
away  the  cards  read  up  by  the  reciter,  they  must,  at 
the  same  time,  guard  against  the  enemies  who  come 
from  the  other  parties  to  plunder  the  cards  found 
in  your  party,  and  also  endeavour  to  deprive  the 
enemies  of  the  cards  possessed  by  them  vice  versa. 
If  a  card  in  your  party  is  taken  away  by  the  enemy, 
your  party  is  given  from  his  party  with  two  or  three 
cards  as  punishment  out  of  the  cards,  not  yet  read 
up,  possessed  by  his  party ;  thus  the  cards  in  charge 
of  your  party  is  increased  with  two  or  three  new 
pieces,  while  the  enemy  is  glad  to  have  their  burden 
lightened.  In  the  game  of  card-playing,  the  first 
party  which  has  cleared  up  all  the  cards  in  its  charge 
is  taken  as  the  conquerors,  and  the  one  that  has 
been  left  to  the  last  still  keeping  a  number  of  cards 
unable  to  clear  away  is  sentenced  as  the  defeated. 
One  night  at  the  beginning  of  January  you  are 
invited  to  the  card-playing  to  be  held  at  the  house 
of  one  of  your  friends.  After  supper,  you  leave  your 
house  for  the  battle-field  at  seven  on  the  evening, 
and,  when  you  enter  the  gate  of  the  house  of  your 
friend  and  approach  the  entrance,  you  find  the  lattice 
door  firmly  locked  up,  though  the  lamplight  can  be 
seen  shining  within  the  inner  paper  sliding  doors  of 
the  porch.  Knocking  the  outer  door  two  or  three 
times,  footsteps  are  heard,  and  the  shadow  of  a 

176 


THE  K A  RUT  A  KA1 

woman  appears  on  the  paper  door.  The  door 
being  opened,  there  comes  out  the  old  mother  of 
your  friend;  recognising  your  presence  outside,  she 
unlocks  the  lattice  door  hurriedly  and  very  hospitably 
welcome  you,  apologising  for  the  impoliteness  of 
having  locked  up  the  door  in  order  to  prevent  the 
intrusion  of  thieves  to  steal  shoes  and  clogs  of  the 
card  players  already  assembled  in  the  house.  When 
you  step  into  the  earthen  floor  within  the  lattice 
door  you  are  surprised  to  find  the  immense  number 
of  shoes,  boots,  and  Japanese  clogs,  which  entirely 
cover  the  whole  space  of  the  court  of  6  feet  square. 
Being  introduced  into  the  large  hall  appointed  for 
the  battlefield  of  this  night,  you  find  that  the  hall  is 
brilliantly  lighted  with  more  than  ten  electric  lamps, 
and  that  over  fifty  young  ladies  and  men,  divided 
into  four  parties,  are  now  in  the  midst  of  the  fierce 
fighting.  The  heat  emitted  from  the  charcoal  fire 
in  fire-boxes  and  the  warmth  given  out  of  human 
bodies  are  mixed  up  in  the  calm  air  and  make  a 
kind  of  hotness  in  the  hall,  smokes  of  tobacco  curling 
up  in  the  hot  air  through  the  hall.  Faces  of  all 
persons  absorbed  in  the  game  are  reddened ;  face- 
powder  of  some  girls  is  come  off,  hair  of  some  ladies 
is  frayed,  or  dresses  of  others  have  got  out  of  order  ; 
a  young  man  in  the  European  clothes  has  taken  off 
his  frock,  and  the  white  shirt  is  torn  at  a  part  under 
the  elbow,  another,  who  has  thrown  away  his  haori 
(coat  of  the  Japanese  clothes),  does  not  know  his 
belt  loosened  and  hanging  down  on  the  mat,  or  a 
gentleman  is  wounded  on  his  fingers  as  the  result 
of  a  severe  struggle,  and  has  them  wrapped  up  with 
white  paper.  All  of  the  players  are  in  madness  for 
the  game,  with  no  care  against  the  hot  air  and 
choking  smoke  in'the  room  ;  they  are  pleasantly  play- 
ing amidst  the  continued  noises  of  cries,  laughters, 
grappling,  trampling,  and  the  shouts  of  triumph. 
Isolated  from  the  throngs  of  fighters,  there  are 
three  men  surrounding  a  large  fire-box  at  one  corner 

177  M 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

of  the  hall ;  they  keep  a  number  of  cards  in  their 
hands,  and  are  reciting  a  poem  on  each  card  by 
turns.  They  are  theyomite,  or  readers  of  the  cards. 

One  game  having  finished,  another  game  is  to  be 
opened  now.  The  old  parties  are  dissolved,  and,  the 
new  ones  being  recomposed  by  lot,  you  join  among 
them  as  one  of  the  players.  The  whole  players  are 
divided  into  five  parties.  The  four  antagonistic 
parties  against  yours  occupy  their  positions  in  front 
and  on  the  both  sides  of  your  camp.  All  members 
of  the  parties  are  so  quick  to  put  their  own  cards  in 
regular  rows  on  the  mats  occupied  as  the  positions  of 
each  party,  that  all  of  them  are  arranged  at  once  in  a 
few  minutes.  Ten  young  students  and  two  girls  form- 
ing one  party  on  the  right  side  of  your  position  call 
themselves  to  be  the  socialists  ;  their  principles  are  to 
destroy  the  peace  of  the  battlefield  by  rioting,  and 
defeat  the  enemies  with  their  physical  force.  Another 
party  just  in  front  of  yours  defend  its  own  position  by 
three  stout  young  ladies,  while  nine  strong  young 
gentlemen  and  boys  are  to  attack  the  other  parties 
with  all  their  strength.  Then  what  are  the  con- 
stituents of  your  party?  An  unlucky  lot  has  fallen 
upon  you — your  party  is  organised  with  two  men, 
one  little  boy,  and  seven  young  ladies !  You  are 
disappointed  to  think  that  your  party  appears  to  be 
weaker  than  all  the  other  four,  though  there  may  be 
some  experts  on  the  art  to  pick  out  the  cards  as  soon 
as  they  are  read  up  by  the  reciter. 

The  encampment  of  all  armies  having  now  finished, 
a  notice  for  the  outbreak  of  war  is  given  to  the  reader, 
who  begins  to  recite  the  poems  at  an  instant.  In  less 
than  five  minutes  after  the  first  poem  was  read  the 
order  of  all  parties  is  thrown  into  confusion,  and  the 
severe  fighting  follows.  At  first  the  army  of  socialists 
seems  very  powerful ;  but,  lacking  their  unity  in  the 
plan  of  movements,  they  are  often  repulsed  by  the 
others.  Out  of  expectation,  the  seven  ladies  in  your 
party  are  very  good  fighters,  in  spite  of  their  beautiful 


THE   DRUM   BRIDGE  AND   WISTARIA   TRELLISES   AT   KAMEIDO. 


LAKE  SHINOBAZU,  THE  LOTIS  POND  BELOW  THE  HILL  OF  UYENO. 


THE    KARUTA-KAI 

face  and  delicate  frame.  They  do  not  only  pick  out 
all  cards  under  their  charge,  but  also  they  frequently 
attack  the  positions  of  enemies  and  plunder  the  cards 
protected  by  them.  After  the  sharp  contest  for  thirty 
minutes  the  game  is  settled,  and,  in  consequence  of 
the  extraordinary  achievements  of  the  seven  heroines, 
all  members  of  your  party  get  the  honour  of  the  first 
triumphers. 

It  is  now  half-past  eight,  and,  an  entr'acte  for  ten 
minutes  being  proclaimed,  all  players  assemble  around 
the  fire-boxes  to  take  a  rest.  Tea,  cakes,  and  oranges 
are  served  to  all  by  the  hostess  and  her  maid-servants. 
While  men  are  smoking,  ladies  taking  tea,  and  boys 
and  girls  eating  cakes,  interesting  criticisms  are  ex- 
changed one  another  upon  the  merits  and  failures 
done  by  the  warriors  and  the  heroines  of  each  party, 
laughters  bursting  here  and  there. 

The  time  of  repose  passes  soon,  and  another  game 
is  begun.  Thus  the  battles  are  repeated  one  after 
another,  the  organisation  of  parties  being  renewed  at 
every  game,  and  the  players  divided  into  four  in  some 
case  or  into  two  or  three  larger  parties  in  the  other ; 
a  short  entr'acte  is  given  after  every  one  hour  as  before. 
If  it  becomes  late  and  the  hostess  thinks  that  the 
players  are  hungry  now  in  consequence  of  their  hard 
movements,  it  is  the  habit  in  the  meeting  of  card- 
playing  to  provide  them  with  the  sushi  (boiled  rice 
relished  with  salt  and  vinegar,  and  mixed  with  cooked 
fish,  eggs  and  vegetables,  all  chopped  fine)  and  the 
shiruko  (food  made  of  rice  bread  boiled  in  a  thick 
solution  of  sugared  beans).  When  the  meeting  finish 
and  all  players  go  home,  the  clock  on  the  wall  strike 
two. 

The  meetings  of  card-playing  are  held  in  turn  at 
the  houses  of  friends  during  January.  Taking  advan- 
tage of  these  meetings,  it  is  not  rare  that  young  men 
and  girls  can  often  catch  the  opportunities  to  find  out 
their  appropriate  companions  for  life,  and  you  are 
often  told  of  the  happy  couples  who  have  got  married 

179 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

after  the  attendance  to  card-playings  in  January 
nights,  of  course  by  the  consent  of  both  their  parents. 
There  are  various  other  ways  of  playing  the  poem 
cards  and  also  we  have  another  kind  of  the  cards 
called  the  Hana-awase  (Cards  of  Flowers).  The 
latter  consist  of  forty-eight  pieces  in  all,  no  words 
being  written,  but  only  the  pictures  of  Flowers  in  four 
seasons  being  drawn  upon  them.  The  European  cards 
commonly  called  the  "  Trump  "  by  the  Japanese  are 
in  vogue  too  at  present.  The  cards,  however,  to  be 
popularly  played  in  the  January  nights  are  generally 
limited  to  the  ones  above  explained. 


1 80 


CHAPTER  XVII 

KAMEIDO  NOTED  FOR  PLUM  AND  WISTARIA 
FLOWERS 

THE  Japanese  have  the  habit  of  admiring  flowers 
through  all  seasons,  and  those  specially  praised  by 
them  above  all  others  are  plum,  cherry,  azalea, 
wistaria,  peony,  iris,  and  chrysanthemum.  The 
plum  is  the  first  flower  that  can  be  admired  by  the 
citizens  after  the  New  Year,  and  Kameido  is  the  oldest 
and  most  celebrated  site  for  it,  as  well  as  for  wistaria 
in  May. 

In  Kameido,  which  is  situated  to  the  north-east  of 
the  city,  there  is  a  popular  shrine  of  God  Tenjin, 
whose  festival  day  is  the  twenty-fifth  every  month, 
and  the  worshippers  gather  there  to  pray  their  happi- 
ness. The  plum  gardens  and  wistaria  trellises  are  set 
up  around  the  shrine,  the  latter  over  the  pond  within 
its  precinct. 

Near  the  evening  of  the  ennichi  (festival  day)  in 
February  you  try  to  visit  Kameido.  After  visiting 
the  shrine  first,  you  come  to  one  of  the  most  famous 
plum  gardens.  It  is  enclosed  with  bamboo  fences, 
and  its  gate-door  constructed  with  bamboo  net-work. 
Entering  the  gate,  you  find  in  the  broad  yard  abund- 
ance of  old  plum-trees,  whose  branches  are  all  embossed 
with  neat  white  blossoms,  and  under  these  trees  a 
number  of  tables  and  chairs  are  furnished  for  the 
repose  of  visitors.  You  take  a  chair,  and  a  little  girl 
brings  a  cup  of  tea.  The  fragrance  of  the  flowers, 

181 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

which  waves  through  the  atmosphere  in  the  garden, 
comes  to  attack  your  nose  at  times,  and  you  feel  that 
your  brain  is  cleared  up.  All  the  trees  in  the  garden 
being  very  old,  they  are  bent  in  various  strange  forms, 
and  one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  trees  is  winding  in 
such  a  singular  shape  that  its  dark  and  mossy  big 
stem  is  creeping  on  the  ground  like  a  dragon,  hence 
the  tree  is  entitled  the  Garyo-bai,  or  the  Plum  of 
Sleeping  Dragon. 

Visitors  to  the  plum  garden  are  all  refined  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  and  the  whole  scene  in  the  garden 
is  noble  and  quiet,  in  contrary  to  the  bustle  and 
confusion  at  the  place  of  cherry  blossoms.  When 
it  becomes  dark,  towards  evening,  the  proprietor 
of  the  garden  lights  a  number  of  round  paper 
lanterns,  which  are  prepared  below  the  plum-trees, 
and  the  white  flowers,  reflected  with  the  rays  of 
these  lanterns,  appear  much  nicer  than  in  daytime. 
Among  the  plum-trees  there  is  a  small  cottage 
of  the  thatched  roof  in  the  style  of  a  summer- 
house  ;  it  is  lighted  also  with  several  painted  paper 
lanterns  hanging  under  the  roof.  A  group  of 
visitors  is  sitting  around  a  large  table :  a  bald  old 
gentleman  with  the  long  white  beard  and  dressed 
in  the  Japanese  coat  called  the  hifu  is  writing  down 
his  newly-made  poem  regarding  plum  flowers  upon 
a  poem-paper  (tanzaku).  On  the  opposite  side  of 
the  table  to  him  a  young  daughter  and  three  boys 
are  talking  peacefully,  fingering  small  branches  of 
a  plum-tree ;  they  may,  perhaps,  be  the  grandsons 
and  granddaughter  of  the  old  man.  On  the  table 
you  see  a  gourd  and  a  small  flat  cup,  the  former 
being  used  by  him  as  a  bottle  filled  with  the 
Japanese  wine.  He  pours  sake  into  the  cup,  empties 
it,  smacking  the  lips,  and  then  meditates  on  a  new 
verse  for  the  flower,  thus  being  absorbed  in  the 
pleasure  of  repeating  the  drinks  and  verse-making 
by  turns.  The  daughter,  some  seventeen  years  old, 
clothed  in  the  pure  Japanese  dresses,  and  with 

182 


KAMEIDO 

the  hair  dressed  in  a  form  called  the  shimada-mage, 
takes  tea  and  cakes  together  with  her  brothers, 
from  eight  to  fifteen  of  age,  all  clad  in  the  school 
uniforms  of  the  European  style.  When  the  even- 
ing breeze  blows  petals  of  white  flowers  fall  upon 
the  table,  flying  down  like  snowflakes  from  the 
trees  near  the  cottage.  The  lovely  maiden  picks 
up  a  piece  of  the  petals  and  smells  it  at  her 
nose;  the  boys  scrape  together  all  petals  on  the 
table  into  their  hands  and  make  them  up  into 
large  round  masses.  While  the  old  gentleman 
is  tasting  cups  of  sake  from  the  gourd-bottle,  he 
looks  at  the  innocent  conducts  of  the  young  fellows, 
and  is  smiling  cheerfully. 

Other  visitors  in  the  yard  come  all  in  companies 
too,  each  consisting  of  two  or  three  at  least. 
Benches  furnished  under  the  trees  are  all  occupied 
by  them ;  a  young  couple  together  with  two 
children,  an  old  lady  accompanied  by  her  son 
and  daughters,  a  group  of  young  students  in  the 
college's  uniforms,  and  various  bodies  of  plum 
flower  admirers,  are  taking  tea,  cakes,  and  pickled 
prunes  at  their  respective  resting-positions.  There 
are  a  great  number  of  guests  who  are  wandering 
about  on  the  mossy  lanes  under  the  trees ;  a  young 
gentleman  points  his  stick  to  the  "  Sleeping  Dragon," 
and  is  explaining  for  his  friends ;  a  beautiful  young 
lady  stops  under  a  large  tree  in  full  blossom,  and 
appears  to  be  enamoured  with  the  pure  fragrance 
of  the  fresh  flowers.  Some  are  pleased  by  reading 
the  poems  on  many  tanzaku  (poem-papers)  tied 
to  the  branches  of  the  plum  -  trees,  these  small 
oblong  papers  being  hung  by  the  verse-makers 
everywhere  under  the  trees.  People  in  the  plum 
garden  do  not  stay  till  too  late,  but  they  all  leave 
it  before  nine  or  ten  generally. 

Kameido  is  also  famous  for  the  wistaria  flowers 
which  open  in  May.  Large  trellises  for  the  trees 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

are  built  over  a  large  pond  which  is  situated  by 
one  side  of  the  shrine.  Visitors  for  wistaria  flowers 
come  generally  in  daytime,  but  those  who  appear 
under  the  trellises  after  the  dark  are  not  few. 
One  evening  in  the  middle  of  May,  accompanied 
by  the  two  friends,  you  come  to  experience  the 
night  scenery  of  the  drooping  purple  flowers.  Enter- 
ing the  large  front  gate  of  the  Tenjin  Shrine,  and 
turning  to  the  left,  you  arrive  near  the  pond,  which 
is  quite  large  in  size  and  oblong  in  form.  Over 
and  around  the  pond  the  trellises  of  wistaria  are 
erected,  and  large  bunches  of  the  lilac  flowers  from 
2  to  5  feet  in  length  are  hanging  down  from  every 
part  of  the  trellises,  all  their  beautiful  shadows 
being  inversely  reflected  upon  the  surface  of  the 
water  in  the  pond.  Along  the  edge  of  the  water 
and  all  round  the  pond  a  number  of  tea-houses 
open  their  shops  to  receive  the  visitors.  The  floors 
of  these  shops  are  built  so  as  a  part  of  them  are 
projected  over  the  surface  of  the  water.  When 
it  approaches  the  night  paper  lanterns  are  lighted 
in  all  rooms  of  these  tea-houses,  under  the  eaves 
of  their  roofs  near  the  pond  and  among  the  hang- 
ing flowers  below  the  trellises ;  thus  the  whole 
scenes  on  and  around  the  pond  become  much  more 
beautiful  than  in  daytime. 

You  select  one  of  these  tea-houses  and  take  a 
seat  on  the  floor  nearest  the  pond.  Leaning  against 
the  bamboo  handrail,  you  look  into  the  pond,  and 
are  much  pleased  to  find  the  brilliant  surface  of 
the  water,  which  reflects  the  rays  of  the  lanterns 
together  with  the  bright  shadows  of  the  flowers. 
The  rooms  of  the  tea-houses  all  along  the  pond 
are  occupied  by  the  night  visitors ;  in  one  of  the 
tea-houses  on  the  opposite  bank  children,  accom- 
panied by  their  parents,  are  very  clamorous  to  throw 
baits  for  red  carps  and  see  them  struggling  one 
another  to  eat  them,  the  fish,  as  well  as  various 
kinds  of  freshwater  fish,  living  abundantly  in  the 

184 


KAMEIDO 

pond.  In  your  next  room,  six  young  men  in  the 
style  of  workmen,  perhaps  from  some  factory  in  the 
adjacent  suburb,  are  drinking  sake  and  very  noisily 
talking  and  laughing  with  banters  to  waitresses  of 
the  tea-house.  In  the  tea-house  to  the  right  of  yours 
playing  sound  of  the  samisen  can  be  heard,  and 
when  you  wonder  whence  the  geisha  come  to  such 
a  distant  quarter,  you  are  told  by  your  friend  that 
a  circle  of  singing-girls  has  been  lately  established 
in  the  quarter  of  Kameido,  and  that  there  are 
several  new  streets  for  these  professional  girls  in 
neighbourhood  of  the  ground  of  the  shrine. 

After  paying  the  tea-money  and  the  price  for  cups 
of  beer,  you  leave  the  shop  to  go  to  the  gay  streets  for 
exploration.  There  is  an  arched  bridge  over  the 
narrow  part  of  the  pond ;  it  is  popularly  called  the 
Taiko-bashi  (Drum  Bridge),  its  surface  being  formed 
in  semi-circular  shape.  If  you  climb  up  to  the  top  of 
the  bridge  and  look  down  over  the  tea-houses  and  the 
wistaria  trellises,  all  brilliant  with  electric  lamps  and 
paper  lanterns,  you  can  be  pleased  to  have  an  inde- 
scribable fine  view  in  the  night  of  early  summer.  It 
is  a  general  habit  that  people  who  visit  the  shrine  at 
any  season,  and  children  in  particular,  are  glad  to  try 
to  ascend  the  bridge.  Coming  out  of  the  front  gate 
and  advancing  to  the  south,  you  arrive  at  a  quarter 
named  the  Ume-Kdji  (Plum  Lane),  and  then  coming 
round  to  the  north  of  the  rear  gate  of  the  shrine,  the 
quarter  is  called  the  Sakura-Kdji  (Cherry  Lane).  The 
oldest  restaurant,  proud  of  its  good  lineage,  is  the 
Namadzu-cho  in  the  Ume-koji,  situated  on  one  side  of 
the  shrine  of  Myogi.  The  house  is  said  to  be  con- 
tinuing for  two  hundred  years  since  the  time  of  the 
first  foundation  of  the  Tokugawa  family  in  Yedo, 
and  very  famous  for  its  special  and  excellent  cooking 
of  catfish  and  carp.  On  the  next  ground  to  the 
Namadzu-cho  a  new  large  building  is  lately  con- 
structed for  the  restaurant  Funarin,  and  another  new 
great  restaurant  in  the  quarter  of  the  Cherry  Lane  is 

185 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

called  the  Kamekawa,  which  is  noted  for  its  refined 
building.  There  are  twenty-eight  restaurants  in  all 
at  the  district  of  Kameido,  and  those  new  enterprising 
houses  among  them  are  Ikuine,  Yoshino,  Yoshidaya, 
Horyu,  Naniwatei,  Kitagawa,  Masukawa,  Kinoene, 
and  Kamesei,  including  those  above  mentioned.  Yet, 
the  old  restaurant  Hashimoto  at  Yanagishima,  well 
known  among  the  citizens  of  Tokyo,  stands  aloof 
from  the  circle  of  these  houses,  occupying  a  position 
on  the  bank  of  the  River  Tenjin,  and  maintaining 
the  noble  capacity  of  the  shop  since  ancient  times. 

As  to  fae.  geisha,  there  are  more  than  twenty  abodes 
of  them  at  present  in  the  so-called  Kameido  Circle, 
and  the  prominent  houses  among  them  are  the 
Katsunoya,  Hayashiya,  Takaraya,  Suzumoto,  Komat- 
suya,  Kamenoya,  Chitoseya,  Hananoya,  and  Kikyoya. 
The  geisha  of  Kameido  are  nicknamed  the  Kuzumochi 
Bijin  (Belle  of  Arrowroot  Cake)  by  some  facetious 
fellows — a  special  kind  of  cake  which  is  made  of 
flour  of  the  arrowroot  (kuzu},  being  the  noted  product 
at  the  quarter  of  Kameido.  The  total  number  of 
"  Beauties  of  Arrowroot "  are  said  to  be  over  one 
hundred  in  this  newly-established  kingdom.  The 
fee  of  a  geisha  is  twenty-five  sen  per  hour,  and,  in 
addition  to  it,  the  gratuity  of  one  yen  should  be  given 
to  her  on  every  occasion.  Most  of  the  girls  here  have 
come  from  the  Circles  at  the  centre  of  the  capital, 
having  removed  from  Asakusa,  Ushigome,  and 
Akasaka ;  but  here  you  cannot  yet  find  those  super- 
fine belles  that  you  often  meet  at  the  Shimbashi  or 
Yanagibashi  Circles.  In  this  quarter  it  is  strange  that 
you  can  find  no  waiting-houses  (machiai\  which  are 
always  concomitant  to  the  geisha  at  any  place.  When 
you  make  enquiry  to  a  geisha  about  the  reasons  of 
non-existence  of  them,  her  simple  answer  is  that  the 
police  does  not  permit  to  carry  on  the  business  of 
machtai.  The  habitues  for  the  restaurants  and  girls  in 
this  quarter  are  young  men  of  many  companies 
existing  in  vicinity  of  Kameido. 

1 86 


KAMEIDO 

About  twenty  years  ago,  when  the  railroad  was 
laid  across  the  moors  of  Musashi  and  Shimosa 
provinces,  the  elevated  railway  was  laid  in  the 
Honjo  Ward,  and  a  station  established  at  Kinshibori, 
near  Kameido.  Since  then  the  last  half  of  the 
Honjo  Ward  and  the  suburban  district  connected  to 
it  made  a  wonderful  development,  the  large  factories 
of  various  industrial  companies  having  been  suc- 
cessively established  in  Taiheicho,  Yokogawacho,  and 
the  neighbouring  plains.  At  a  distance  from  the 
front  gate  of  the  shrine  Tenjin  you  can  see  a  large 
tall  chimney  of  the  Japan  and  China  Cotton  Spinning 
Co. ;  the  dense  black  smokes  always  curling  up  into 
the  sky  to  the  rear  of  the  shrine  are  from  the  Oriental 
Muslin  Manufacturing  Co.  at  Ukechimura.  Beyond 
the  River  Tenjin  you  can  find  a  great  number  of 
chimneys  standing  close  like  the  masts  of  many 
vessels  anchoring  in  a  harbour :  they  are  those  of 
the  Tokyo  Hat  Manufacturing  Co.,  the  Yamamoto 
Iron  Works,  the  Kameido  Coke  Co.,  the  Japan  and 
China  Dyeing  Co.,  the  Japan  Acetic  Acid  Manu- 
facturing Co.,  etc.  If  the  men  employed  in  these 
various  companies  are  made  captives  in  the  restaurants 
of  Kameido,  you  can  easily  understand  how  busy  and 
prosperous  are  the  so-called  arrowroot  girls  every 
night. 

Besides  the  new  gay  quarter  lately  established, 
more  than  ten  acres  of  rice-field  near  the  rear  ground 
of  the  shrine  were  contributed  to  the  shrine  by  chief 
inhabitants  in  the  district  of  Kameido.  Their  object 
was  to  establish  a  new  public  pleasure-ground  on  the 
space  of  land,  just  like  Asakusa  Park,  and  its  reclama- 
tion work  having  already  finished,  large  and  small 
buildings  for  shows  and  various  shops  are  constructed. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

CHERRY  BLOSSOMS  AT  PARK   UYENO 

"  IF  you  are  asked  what  is  the  true  spirit  of  the 
Japanese,  you  would  answer, '  Please  look  at  the  wild 
cherries  blooming  under  the  morning  sun.'"  So 
intimate  is  the  connection  between  the  soul  of 
Japan  and  the  characteristics  of  cherries.  When  it 
comes  to  spring,  cherry  blossoms  open  in  one  night, 
and  if  there  blows  a  vernal  breeze,  they  fall  off  at 
once.  This  manful  and  resolute  characters  of  the 
flowers  resemble  the  quality  of  the  Japanese.  It  is 
not  unreasonable  that  the  Japanese  admire  the 
cherries  best  among  various  kinds  of  flowers  through- 
out all  seasons  ;  if  you  simply  say  hana  (flower), 
everybody  understands  it  means  the  cherry  only, 
and  nobody  questions  what  flower  you  mean.  Indeed, 
the  cherry  is  the  national  flower  of  Japan,  just  as  the 
rose  is  that  of  England. 

The  places  in  Tokyo  noted  for  the  cherry  blossoms 
are  Mukojima,  Arakawa,  Uyeno,  Asuka  Hill,  Edogawa 
Bank,  Park  Kudan,  Park  Hikawa,  and  Park  Shiba. 
Among  these  Park  Uyeno  is  the  largest  and  most 
popular  recreation  ground  for  the  Tokyo  citizens  in 
spring  season.  During  a  fortnight  at  the  beginning  of 
April  the  whole  space  on  the  Uyeno  Hill  is  crowded 
with  visitors  for  cherry  blossoms  from  dawn  until  late 
at  night.  At  the  front  approach  of  the  park  there 
are  large  stone  steps,  and,  ascending  them  up,  you 
come  on  a  broad  plain,  where  the  branches  of  cherries 
in  full  bloom,  tangling  like  a  network,  cover  the  sky. 

1 88 


CHERRY   BLOSSOMS   AT   UYENO 

At  the  centre  of  the  plain,  there  stands  a  large 
bronze  statue  of  General  Saigo,  the  great  hero  on 
the  Restoration  of  Meiji.  It  is  erected  on  a  high 
stand  of  marble  stone ;  it  is  in  the  standing  posture 
in  a  simple  Japanese  clothes,  accompanied  by  his 
pet  dog  at  the  right  side,  and  carrying  a  short  sword 
at  his  left  waist.  By  the  incandescent  light,  which 
stands  on  the  pole  near  the  statue  and  shines  high 
above  its  head,  you  can  clearly  recognise  its  face, 
which  represents  his  strong  character.  Around  the 
iron  fence  for  the  monument  there  is  arranged  a 
row  of  benches,  on  which  people  take  their  seats 
and  are  admiring  the  flowers.  Just  behind  the 
monument,  and  about  twenty  yards  distant,  there  is  a 
large  restaurant  named  the  Kagetsu  Kadan.  The 
weather  being  warm  this  night,  all  the  doors  of 
the  rooms  in  the  restaurant  both  up  and  down 
stairs,  are  left  open,  and  you  can  see  the  guests, 
male  and  female,  in  every  room,  some  at  drinks  and 
some  at  dinner.  On  the  opposite  side  to  the 
restaurant,  and  very  near  to  the  top  of  the  stone 
steps,  you  see  a  tea-house  where  ice-water  and  ice- 
cream are  already  sold.  Chairs  inside  are  fully 
occupied  by  the  water-takers ;  at  the  outside  there 
are  prepared  a  number  of  large  square  benches 
covered  with  red  rugs,  and  here  the  groups  of 
visitors  take  waters  or  tea  and  cakes  too.  If  you  go 
to  the  east  corner  of  the  tableland  and  look  down, 
standing  by  the  fence  along  the  brink,  you  can  have 
a  good  night  view  over  the  eastern  half  of  the  city. 
All  the  streets  and  houses  are  brilliant  with  large 
and  small  lights  of  electric  and  gas  lamps,  and  in 
the  street,  just  below  the  hill,  tramcars  run,  ringing 
their  bells.  Far  distant  to  the  left  high  and  low 
roofs  of  the  houses  in  the  "  Nightless  City,"  or 
Yoshiwara,  can  be  seen  within  the  brilliance  of 
the  quarter,  and  far  in  front  the  gigantic  roof  of 
the  Asakusa  temple  and  the  five-story  pagoda  by 
its  side  stand  eminently  above  the  sea  of  lights  in 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

Park  Asakusa.  The  spot  is  always  crowded  with 
onlookers  night  and  day,  as  it  is  the  best  position 
for  having  prospects  over  the  city. 

Now  you  leave  the  spot  and  advance  farther  to 
the  north  under  the  sky  of  flowers  everywhere  lighted 
with  electric  lights.  To  the  left  there  is  a  red 
painted  temple  called  the  Kiyomizudo,  near  which 
an  old  big  cherry-tree,  famous  by  the  name  of  the 
Shushiki-zakura,  is  in  full  bloom.  Descending  down 
a  little  slope  at  the  north  end  of  the  tableland, 
and  turning  to  the  left,  you  come  to  a  broad  road 
in  the  park.  The  roadway  is  busy  with  carriages, 
motor-cars  and  rikishas,  and  the  pavement  is  full 
of  night  visitors  for  flowers.  Here  and  there  on 
the  pavement  benches  are  prepared,  and  all  occupied 
by  men  and  women  who  are  enjoying  pastime  in  the 
calm  spring  night. 

Far  below  the  pavement  you  can  see  a  large 
pond,  Shinabazu,  which  is  two  miles  in  circumference. 
In  summer  citizens  gather  round  the  pond  to  see 
the  lotus  flowers,  which  are  abundant  in  it.  At  the 
centre  of  the  pond  there  is  a  small  detached  land 
which  is  connected  with  a  stone  bridge  from  the 
mainland,  and  on  this  island  the  shrine  of  Benten, 
Goddess  of  Beauty,  stands.  Females,  specially  geisha 
and  waitresses  of  restaurants,  are  used  to  visit  the 
shrine  to  make  prayers  for  prosperity  of  their 
business.  At  the  left  side  of  the  entrance  gate  to 
the  shrine  there  is  a  restaurant,  the  rooms  of  which 
are  constructed  stretching  over  the  water  of  the 
pond.  The  lights  in  the  restaurant  rooms  being 
reflected  on  the  surface  of  water,  the  views  of  the 
pond  and  the  island  are  seen  much  nicer  than  in 
daytime.  Along  the  south  bank  of  the  pond  many 
stylish  buildings  of  machias,  or  waiting-houses,  are 
standing  in  a  long  row,  and  the  geisha  who  are 
engaged  to  these  houses,  as  well  as  to  the  restaur- 
ants in  vicinity,  are  the  girls  belonging  to  the  so- 
called  Shitaya  circle.  The  season  of  cherry  blossoms 

190 


CHERRY  BLOSSOMS  AT  UYENO 

is  said  to  be  busiest  for  them  throughout  the 
year. 

If  you  go  on  the  pavement  a  little  farther  to  the 
north,  you  come  into  the  avenue  of  cherry-trees. 
Near  the  avenue,  and  high  above  the  flowers,  you 
find  a  large  bronze  image  of  Buddha  settled  on  a 
small  hill,  and  on  its  front  side  a  bell-tower  stands 
face  to  face,  the  bell  being  rung  every  hour  night 
and  day ;  behind  the  image  and  surrounded  by 
cherry-trees,  there  is  the  Seiyoken,  one  of  the  largest 
European  restaurants  and  hotels  in  Tokyo.  You 
enter  the  bar  of  the  hotel  and  find  it  full  of  the 
European  and  the  Japanese  gentlemen,  all  of  them 
holding  two  or  three  cherry  flowers  at  the  button- 
hole of  the  coat ;  they  might  be  the  remnants  of  the 
garden  party  held  in  the  yard  of  the  restaurant  in 
this  afternoon.  In  the  billiard-room,  next  to  the 
bar,  clashes  of  balls  can  be  heard. 

You  leave  the  bar  and  come  again  to  the  avenue. 
Admirers  of  night  flowers  are  wandering  here  in 
throngs.  Under  a  large  tree  a  company  of  men, 
women,  and  children  takes  the  seat  on  a  large  carpet, 
and  is  glad  to  admire  the  bunches  of  flowers  cluster- 
ing on  the  branches  of  all  trees.  If  you  look  the 
far  end  of  the  avenue,  clusters  on  the  trees  appear 
like  heaps  of  snow  or  pieces  of  white  clouds.  Here 
and  there  various  bodies  of  visitor  are  strolling 
about  hand  in  hand,  the  men  being  intoxicated  with 
sake.  Girls  and  young  wives  in  company  with  them 
are  very  noisy  with  chattering  and  laughing,  satisfied 
with  the  picnic  in  the  warm  spring  night.  When 
you  are  standing  under  a  tree  there  come  two  young 
fellows  tottering  by  the  effect  of  drinks  ;  one  of 
them  carries  a  large  branch  of  cheery-tree  in  full 
bloom  on  his  shoulder,  and  the  other  has  a  glass 
bottle  of  sake  at  his  right  hand  and  a  cup  at  the  left. 
Perhaps  they  have  come  to  the  park  on  their  way 
back  from  the  flower  picnic  at  the  Asuka  Hill.  They 
come  near  you,  the  one  offers  his  cup  to  you  and 

191 


THE   NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

asks  you  in  his  indistinct  pronunciation  to  taste  a 
a  cup  of  his  wine.  You  know  that  if  you  refuse  the 
offer  the  drunkards  would  become  angry  at  once ; 
so  you  gladly  receive  the  cup  from  him  without 
hesitation,  and,  the  sake  being  poured  into  it  from 
his  glass  bottle,  drain  it  at  an  instant.  The  two  are 
very  much  satisfied  by  your  clever  treatment  for  them, 
and  begin  to  dance  in  funny  figures,  brandishing  the 
cherry  branch  and  scattering  about  the  flowers  on  it. 
You  applaud  their  queer  dances,  and  depart  here, 
leaving  them  behind. 

Now  you  come  to  another  part  of  the  park  where 
another  wood  of  cherry-trees  covers  the  whole  space 
of  ground.  Among  the  trees  in  abundance  there 
are  two  large  old  ones,  whose  branches  are  all 
drooping  down ;  these  are  very  famous  by  the  name 
of  Shidare-zakura  (Drooping  Cherries).  At  one  side 
of  the  flower  ground,  and  beyond  a  broad  road  passing 
along  the  wood,  there  is  the  zoological  garden.  Its 
gate  is  shut  up,  and  the  lamps  on  the  stone  pillars  of 
the  gate  are  shining  over  the  flowers  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  road.  A  large  building  next  to  the 
zoological  garden  is  the  Tokyo  Fine  Arts  School,  and 
the  tall  white  three-story  house  to  the  north  of  the 
school  is  the  Imperial  Library,  the  largest  and  most 
perfectly  arranged  one  among  all  libraries  in  the 
town.  Turning  to  the  east  the  corner  of  the  library, 
you  see  a  very  large  and  magnificent  red  -  brick 
building,  and  its  large  black  wooden  gate  in  front  of 
the  building  shows  the  souvenir  for  the  entrance 
gate  of  the  ancient  feudal  lord's  mansion.  It  is  the 
Imperial  Museum,  established  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Imperial  Household  Department.  The  doors  of 
all  these  buildings — the  school,  the  library,  and  the* 
museum — are  shut  up  now,  and  only  their  gate  lamps 
radiating  their  dreary  lights  over  the  ground.  In 
daytime  this  part  of  the  park  is  most  crowded  with 
visitors — boys  and  girls  play  the  prisoner's  base  on  the 
lawn  under  the  flowers,  and  people  who  come  out  of 

192 


CHERRY  BLOSSOMS   AT  UYENO 

the  zoological  garden  and  the  museum  all  assemble 
once  by  the  shade  of  the  cherries  here.  As  it  is  late 
in  night  now,  however,  wandering  folks  are  not  so 
numerous  and  hustling  as  in  day  ;  yet  you  find  several 
groups  of  men  and  women  strolling  here  and  there, 
or  standing  under  the  drooping  trees.  All  these 
fellows  seem  to  be  utterly  absorbed  in  the  beauty  of 
flowers,  and  to  have  forgotten  to  go  home. 

Now  again  you  leave  the  spot  of  flowers  and 
march  for  the  south  through  the  dark,  narrow  foot- 
path opened  among  the  grove  of  cedar-trees.  You 
arrive  at  a  long,  straight  stone  pavement  which  leads 
to  the  front  gate  of  the  shrine,  Toshogu,  dedicated  to 
lyeyasu,  the  first  Shogun  of  the  Tokugawa  family. 
Among  the  cedar  grove  to  the  right  of  the  pavement, 
and  near  the  front  gate,  there  stands  a  high  five- 
story  pagoda,  similar  in  form  to  the  one  by  the  side 
of  the  Asakusa  Temple.  It  is  a  striking  spectacle 
that  two  long  rows  of  ishidoro  (stone  lamp-pillars)  are 
arranged  along  the  both  sides  of  the  pavement.  All 
these  stone  lamps  were  dedicated  by  the  feudal  lords 
in  the  age  of  the  Tokugawa  Government,  and  remain 
as  they  were  up  to  the  present  and  forever.  In  and 
around  the  fence  of  the  shrine,  there  are  a  great 
number  of  cherry-trees,  too,  all  in  full  bloom ;  and  at 
a  distance  from  the  shrine  a  large  tea-house  opens 
its  shop  to  receive  the  visitors  in  this  quarter.  The 
rooms  in  the  house  are  full  of  the  guests ;  the  men 
are  already  satiated  with  drinks,  and  the  women  tired 
out  by  rambling  about  the  flower  places.  They  take 
refreshment  here  and  repose  for  a  while  before  they 
start  for  home,  taking  pleasure  at  the  same  time  to 
have  a  night  view  over  the  Shinobazu  pond  from 
their  rooms  of  the  house. 

Along  one  side  of  the  tea-house  you  find  another 
stone  steps,  smaller  than  those  at  the  front  entrance  of 
the  park,  and  get  down  the  hill  to  the  north  bank  of 
the  pond,  just  opposite  to  the  bank  side  busy  with  the 
prosperity  of  the  waiting-houses.  This  side  of  the 

193  N 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

pond  is  lonely,  but  the  cheery-trees  along  the  bank 
are  most  numerous  on  this  part.  Here  some  ice-water 
stalls  are  visited  by  guests  thirsty  after  drinks,  or  by 
those  tired  and  hot  after  the  flower  excursion  for  the 
whole  long  spring  day.  Going  on  to  the  south  under 
flowers  along  the  bank,  you  meet  groups  of  night 
haunters  for  flowers  too,  and  at  last  come  back  near 
the  front  entrance  of  the  park,  having  made  a  round 
through  all  the  parts  noted  for  the  best  views  of 
cherry  blossoms. 

The  night  scene  of  cherry  flowers  is  rather  quiet 
in  contrast  to  noises  and  bustles  in  daytime.  The 
funny  and  amusing  features  of  the  citizens  taking 
holidays  cannot  be  seen  unless  you  come  to  the 
flower  picnic  on  a  fine  day  of  the  warm  spring. 


194 


CHAPTER    XIX 

THE   RIKISHA-UAK 

ON  your  way  home  from  Park  Uyeno  after  you 
experienced  the  night  views  of  the  cherry  blossoms, 
you  hire  a  rikisha.  The  rikisha-maxi  is  a  young  and 
strong  fellow,  and  runs  very  fast.  Observing  his 
physical  constitution  from  his  back,  and  judging  by 
his  talk,  he  is  not  the  pure  labourer  of  the  lowest 
class ;  his  face  and  the  skin  on  the  limbs  are  not 
sunburnt  so  quite  brown  as  you  always  find  in 
common  rikisfta-mcxi*  His  way  of  speaking  is  not 
so  base  and  rude  as  they  are  generally.  When  you 
pass  over  the  main  street  and  come  into  a  lonely 
side  road,  you  address  him. 

"  I  say,  you  are  not  a  professional  riskisha-ma.n,  I 
think,"  you  ask  him,  "  but  you  are  compelled  to  take 
this  calling  temporarily  by  a  certain  reason.  Can 
you  tell  me  why  you  carry  on  such  a  work  ? " 
"  Thank  you  very  much,  sir,"  answers  the  young 
rMsfa-man.  "  To  tell  the  truth,  I  am  a  student,  but 
so  unfortunate  to  have  to  take  such  a  hard  work  in 
night."  "  A  student  ? "  you  say  again.  "  I  have 
guessed  so.  Will  you  tell  me  your  career  after  you 
have  taken  this  task  ?  There  you  see  a  buckwheat 
shop ;  let  us  go  there.  If  you  are  kind  enough  to 
satisfy  my  curiosity  by  telling  your  rikisha-maris  life,  I 
shall  gladly  pay  you  the  sum  of  money  quite  enough 
to  cover  your  fares  expected  to  earn  in  this  night." 

The  young  man  consents  to  your  proposal,  and 
the  two  enter  the  buckwheat  shop — a  small,  dirty 

195 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

house,  but  very  suitable  for  the  guest  in  company 
with  a  rikisha  -  man.  You  order  a  bottle  of  sake 
and  bowls  of  buckwheat.  It  is  eleven  now,  and 
the  amateur  rikisha  -  man  begins  to  narrate  his 
experiences : — 

"Though  the  men  of  our  profession  are  simply 
called  by  a  general  name  of  rikiska-men,  they  can 
be  classified  into  several  ranks  according  to  the 
ways  and  degrees  of  their  living.  There  is  an  old 
riktsha-man.  who  has  to  sustain  his  wife  and  children. 
How  hard  it  is  for  him  to  run  through  the  streets 
drawing  his  heavy  cart  night  and  day,  with  no  care 
for  the  storms  in  the  cold  winter  and  the  strong 
heat  in  the  hot  summer!  In  spite  of  such  a  painful 
and  restless  labour,  still  he  cannot  earn  money 
sufficient  for  maintaining  his  family  every  day. 
Another  one  is  a  strong  young  man  ;  he  is  a  bachelor, 
and  lives  in  an  inn  of  the  lowest  class.  When  he 
gets  money  he  drinks  and  gambles ;  if  he  is  beaten, 
and  everything  he  has,  even  his  clothes,  is  taken, 
he  has  the  face  to  shut  up  himself  in  a  dirty  room 
of  his  lodging.  On  the  contrary  a  private  rikisha- 
man  —  that  is,  the  one  in  regular  employ  by  a 
gentleman  —  is  fortunate ;  he  lives  in  a  house 
appointed  by  his  master,  and  receives  a  fixed 
salary.  There  is  no  troubles  for  him  to  support 
his  family. 

"  I  came  to  Tokyo  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
summer  for  the  purpose  of  study,  but  my  house 
being  poor,  I  had  to  earn  myself  the  money  necessary 
for  my  expenses.  At  first  I  worked  as  a  distributer 
of  newspapers,  but  my  income  was  very  scanty. 
About  the  end  of  last  year  a  brother  and  a  sister 
of  mine  came  to  Tokyo  too,  and  we  had  to  live 
together  in  a  house.  We  rented  a  small  room  in 
a  tenement  house  at  a  back  street  of  Yokoami 
Street  of  the  Honjo  district.  After  we  removed  there 
we  found  that  we  were  rather  happy  comparing  to 
neighbours,  because  the  families  living  in  the  other 

196 


THE  RIKISHA  -  MAN 

rooms  of  the  same  tenement  house  consisted  of 
more  than  five  or  six  persons,  while  our  room  is 
occupied  by  only  three. 

"  Now  I  must  find  any  new  calling  by  which  I 
could  get  much  more  income.  In  the  third  room 
from  ours  there  lives  the  family  of  a  toy-maker,  whose 
second  son  is  taking  business  of  rikisha  -  man 
in  night  and  going  to  school  in  day.  His  name 
was  Kin  -  san  (Mr  Kin),  and  I  became  acquainted 
with  him  a  few  days  after  my  removal  here.  Being 
told  by  him  on  the  details  of  the  life  of  rikisha-mtr\, 
I  resolved  to  be  his  comrade.  He  told  me  that 
he  could  earn  one  yen  per  night,  and  I  thought, 
if  it  is  true,  I  can  live  and  study  without  troubling 
my  brother. 

"  One  day  in  December  I  went  to  the  house  of  a 
head  rzfciska-ma.n,  accompanied  by  Kinsan,  my  new 
friend  ;  and  when  I  was  introduced  to  the  master 
and  told  him  my  wishes  to  become  ri&is&a-msui, 
he  kindly  taught  me  the  process  for  entry  into 
the  rikisha  -  man  circle.  First,  the  uniform  and 
articles  necessary  for  the  calling  must  be  prepared, 
and  they  consisted  of  a  cap,  a  livery,  a  shirt,  a 
trousers,  a  lantern,  and  a  blanket.  If  these  articles 
should  be  newly  bought,  they  would  cost  over  ten 
yen,  but  as  I  had  not  such  a  big  sum,  I  was  troubled 
how  to  get  them.  Looking  my  face,  the  head  rikisha- 
man  smiled  and  whispered  to  me, '  Never  mind,  my 
boy ;  it  is  quite  enough  if  you  can  show  these  articles 
on  the  occasion  when  you  have  to  be  inspected  at  the 
police.  I  shall  lend  you  good  ones  when  you  go 
to  the  police,  and  afterwards  you  would  better  to  buy 
some  old  ones  at  a  shop  of  second-hand  articles.' 
I  was  much  moved  and  relieved  by  the  kindness  of 
the  master,  but  at  the  same  time  another  anxiety 
arose  in  my  mind.  It  was  for  the  examination  at 
the  police.  'What  kind  of  examination/  enquired 
I  to  the  headman,  'shall  I  have  at  the  police?' 
1  You  will  be  examined  whether  you  are  able  to  be 

197 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

a  good  guide  in  the  city,1  replied  the  old  fellow. 
'But  I  don't  know  the  particulars  of  Tokyo  yet.' 
'Then  you  are  better  to  commit  memory  the 
principal  streets  and  places  by  the  map  of  Tokyo.' 
As  soon  as  I  came  home,  I  opened  a  map  and  made 
efforts  to  study  it  until  late  in  the  night. 

"  Next  morning  I  went  to  the  Honjo  police-station 
and  made  application  for  the  registration  of  rikiska- 
man-ship.  Being  summoned  before  a  constable,  I 
was  first  enquired  of  my  age  and  caste.  Then  he 
made  another  enquiry  about  the  reasons  of  becoming 
the  rikisha-mzn ;  he  advised  me  that  a  young  man 
as  I  am  would  not  be  good  to  fall  into  the  lowest 
class  of  labourers  like  rikisha -men,  and  added 
that  it  would  be  better  for  me  to  find  any  other 
business  proper  for  a  student.  I  thanked  for  his 
kind  advice,  but  told  him  that  I  could  not  find 
any  other  work  which  can  earn  money  necessary 
for  me  at  present.  At  last  he  consented  to  register 
my  name  in  the  nkiska~msai  list  of  the  Honjo 
circle,  and  then  there  followed  the  inspection  on 
the  uniform  and  articles.  I  could  easily  pass  it, 
owing  to  the  favour  of  the  kind  headman,  and  come 
home  much  satisfied  with  the  result  of  this  morning. 

"This  afternoon,  after  paying  back  the  uniform 
to  the  head  rzfciska-man,  I  went  to  a  shop  of  old 
sundry  articles  and  could  collect  all  things  necessary 
for  my  new  profession.  Approaching  the  evening, 
I  finished  supper  and  first  tried  to  put  on  the 
rikisha  -  man's  uniform.  I  was  a  novice  of  the 
rikisha  -  men  circle.  How  funny  my  appearance 
was  in  this  evening ;  my  head  was  half  concealed 
in  an  old  military  cap,  perhaps  once  worn  by  a 
brave  soldier  in  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  my  body 
wrapped  in  a  narrow  pieced  coat  of  school  uniform 
over  an  old  knit  undershirt,  the  trousers  being  an 
old  black  military  duck,  and  the  feet  were  covered 
with  the  Japanese  socks  (tabi],  over  which  I  put  on 
straw  sandals.  When  my  sister  gave  me  her  old 

198 


THE   RIKISHA  -  MAN 

blanket,  she  said,  "Are  you  going  to  be  a  rikisha- 
man  since  this  evening  at  last?"  and  her  eyes 
were  full  of  tears.  I  put  the  blanket  on  my 
shoulder,  and  took  a  small,  long,  paper  lantern  in 
my  right  hand.  Bidding  farewell  to  her  and  my 
brother,  I  left  my  home  for  the  house  of  the  rikisha 
master. 

"  It  was  dark  now.  I  called  on  Kinsan  first,  and 
he  went  together  with  me.  On  the  way  he  taught 
me  how  to  induce  the  guests  to  take  rikisha^  told 
that  it  was  strictly  prohibited  to  return  on  the 
same  road  unless  I  was  hired  by  a  guest,  and  that 
the  lantern  should  be  lighted  in  any  case.  He 
remarked  that,  if  I  violated  these  police  regulations, 
I  should  be  punished  with  a  fine. 

"Arriving  at  the  master's  house,  Kinsan  thanked 
him  for  his  kind  assistance  on  the  registration  of 
his  friend  at  the  police,  and  asked  him  to  lend  me 
a  rikisha  cart.  The  master  showed  me  a  pretty 
old  cart,  and  said  it  would  be  most  suitable  for 
the  newcomer,  as  it  was  comparatively  lighter  than 
others.  By  the  kind  leadership  of  Kinsan  I  oiled 
its  axle,  and,  after  paying  ten  sen,  the  hire  of  the 
cart  for  this  night,  I  marched  out  for  the  battlefield 
first  for  my  life!  When  we,  Kinsan  and  I,  came 
in  a  street  just  behind  Asakusa  Park,  Kinsan  tried 
to  challenge  two  young  fellows  passing  by  us  : 
'  Hallo !  Will  you  take  rikisha  ?  Only  ten  sen  to 
Yoshiwara  ! '  One  of  the  two  turned  back  and  said, 
'  Ten  sen>  too  dear  !  Eight  sen  each  will  do.'  '  All 
right,'  echoed  Kinsan.  *  Please  get  on  the  cart ; ' 
and,  turning  to  me,  he  said,  '  Take  one  on  yours.' 
By  Kinsan's  help  I  could  capture  the  first  guest 
for  my  new  profession.  As  soon  as  the  two 
debauchees  got  on  the  carts,  we  ran  quickly  to 
carry  them  into  the  '  Nightless  City.' 

"  *  I  say,  rikzsha-man,'  cried  one  on  Kinsan's  cart, 
1  make  haste !  If  you  pass  other  rikishas  on 
the  way,  I  shall  increase  the  fare  by  two  sen  for 

199 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

every  rikisha ! '  'All  right/  replied  my  friend, 
who  began  to  run  in  his  full  speed,  and  I  followed 
him.  The  distance  to  Yoshiwara  is  short,  and  the 
road  even  and  straight ;  yet,  in  spite  of  my  training 
of  feet  during  the  labour  as  the  newspaper  distributer, 
it  was  very  hard  to  run  by  drawing  a  cart,  and  the 
sweat  flowing  down  over  the  face  and  body,  even 
in  the  cold  night  of  winter  my  shirt  and  coat  got 
wet  through,  as  if  I  met  with  a  sudden  shower. 
Before  we  arrived  at  the  Great  Gate  (0-mon\  we 
had  passed  six  carts.  Getting  down  from  the  carts 
at  the  gate,  one  of  the  two  praised  us  with  satis- 
faction upon  his  face :  '  Thanks  for  your  troubles ! 
As  you  are  young,  we  could  come  very  quick.  Take 
this ! '  and,  giving  two  fifty  -sen  silvers  to  Kinsan, 
the  two  hastened  away  into  the  gate.  Kinsan  gave 
me  one  of  the  silvers,  and  said  with  a  smile,  'What 
a  luck  for  us  this  night ! ' 

"At  this  moment  two  students  happened  to  come 
out  of  the  gate,  and  Kinsan  did  not  miss  to  catch 
the  birds.  '  Gentlemen,'  called  he  out,  '  will  you 
take  the  cart?  We  are  going  back;  please  get  on 
to  the  tram.'  '  How  much  to  the  main  road  ? ' 
asked  one  of  the  students.  'Only  ten  sen  each,' 
responded  Kinsan.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  take 
the  carts,  and  again  I  ran,  following  Kinsan's  cart. 
Soon  we  came  to  the  halting-place  of  the  tramcar 
near  the  entrance  to  the  Asakusa  Temple,  and 
received  ten  sen  each.  While  I  was  searching  for 
another  guest,  mingled  in  many  ri&tf&t-men,  Kinsan 
was  quick  to  catch  a  new  bird,  and  ran  away  for 
somewhere. 

"  Suddenly  I  was  called  by  a  lady  :  '  Mr  Rikisha- 
man,  will  you  take  me  to  the  street  Imado  ? '  '  All 
right,  thanks,  madam,'  replied  I,  a  little  perplexed 
by  the  unexpected  happy  application.  Much  glad 
to  have  got  a  guest  independently  by  myself,  I 
ran  with  all  my  strength.  'Don't  run  so  quick, 
Kurumayasan  (Mr  Rikisha-mzxi)\'  cried  the  lady. 

200 


THE  B1KISHA  -  MAN 

'  I  don't  want  to  be  in  so  great  haste.  It  seems 
to  me  that  you  are  not  trained  well  in  your  work 
yet.'  Certainly  I  was  a  new  rt&ts&a  -  man,  first 
appeared  this  night.  It  is  sure  that  she  judged  me 
by  my  queer  dress;  and  in  addition  to  it,  as  she 
was  lighter  than  a  man,  I  often  jumped  up  while 
running,  and  she  had  an  insight  into  the  rawness 
of  my  art  on  drawing  cart.  After  quarter  an  hour 
I  arrived  at  Imado,  and  was  taught  by  her  to  turn 
into  a  narrow  sidestreet.  When  she  got  down  at 
the  entrance  of  her  house  there  appeared  a  young 
girl  of  some  eighteen  and  received  her.  The  lady 
gave  me  thirty  sen,  and  very  kindly  told  me  to 
take  a  rest  for  a  while.  I  thanked  her,  but  soon 
left  the  house  for  further  work. 

"When  I  came  near  a  large  beef  shop  in  the 
street,  I  found  two  empty  rikishas  and  rifcis&a~mcn 
repeatedly  bowing  before  a  policeman.  Afterwards 
I  was  told  by  them  that  they  had  been  pressing 
upon  passers-by  to  take  rikiska,  and  being  discovered 
by  the  policeman,  punished  with  the  fine  of  thirty 
sen  each.  A  fine  of  thirty  sen!  A  great  part  of 
the  sum  earned  by  their  hard  work  in  this  night 
was  thus  forfeited.  How  foolish  and  poor  fellows 
they  were  ! 

"  Near  a  cross-road  I  was  waiting  for  another  guest, 
but  could  catch  none  till  half -past  ten.  I  felt 
extreme  cold,  and  my  hands  and  feet  were  gradually 
to  be  benumbed.  I  went  into  a  mochiya  (a  lowest 
class  shop  of  rice-bread  and  other  eatables)  to  take 
something  and  warm  my  body.  The  shop  was 
thronged  with  f?£&fcz-men,  the  habitue  of  every  night, 
and  I  did  not  expect  to  find  Kinsan  among  them. 
When  he  saw  me  he  came  to  me  and  asked :  *  My 
brother,  how  it  was  with  you  ? '  '  After  I  parted 
from  you,'  answered  I,  'I  got  thirty  sen  only.' 
1  Same  for  me,  either,'  said  he,  '  but  we  are  rather 
lucky  this  night.  There  is  a  man  who  got  thirty 
sen  only  and  was  fined  twice.' 

20 1 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

"Young  and  old  rikiska-mzn  sat  around  a  dirty 
large  square  table,  and  were  talking  noisily  while 
they  ate  mochi  and  drank  tea.  All  their  dresses 
were  old  and  filthy,  far  worse  than  mine.  Some 
twisted  ragged  blankets  round  their  neck,  and  some 
carried  half -broken  paper  lanterns  by  their  side. 
An  old  man  complained  that,  though  he  worked 
hard  till  very  late  every  night,  he  could  not  come 
home  with  the  money  sufficient  for  supporting  his 
family,  for  he  must  pay  the  hire  for  the  cart,  the 
price  for  candles  of  the  lantern,  and  the  cost  of 
luncheons ;  and,  moreover,  sometimes  fines  were 
squeezed  in  consequence  of  his  unintentional  viola- 
tion of  the  police  regulations.  Listening  to  these 
shabby  orators,  and  much  interested  with  various 
topics  entirely  strange  to  me,  I  took  two  trays  of 
mochi,  and  after  paying  ten  sen,  I  left  the  shop  to 
expose  my  body  again  into  the  chill  air  of  the 
midnight. 

"  I  held  up  the  frozen  shaft  of  the  cart,  and  at  the 
moment  about  to  turn  a  corner  a  gentleman  in 
cloak  appeared  before  me,  and  said :  *  Kurumaya 
(rikisha-mzn\  take  me  to  the  bluff  of  Hongo.  How 
much  do  you  want  ? '  '  What  part  of  the  bluff,  sir  ? ' 
asked  I.  'Very  near  to  the  Imperial  University,' 
replied  he.  '  It  is  very  late  now,  sir,'  said  I  again. 
1 1  ask  you  to  pay  fifty  sen!  '  Forty  sen  will  do ! ' 
commanded  he.  At  last  I  agreed  to  go  by  forty 
sen>  and  ran  with  a  heavy  burden  on  the  cart, 
encouraging  my  legs,  already  tired  out  by  the  un- 
accustomed hard  work  since  the  evening.  It  took 
a  quarter  to  go  up  the  ascent  of  Kiridoshi,  and 
when  I  came  near  the  front  gate  of  the  University 
I  enquired  the  guest :  '  Here  is  the  University,  sir ; 
where  is  your  house?'  There  was  no  answer  from 
him — he  fell  into  sleep  on  the  cart.  After  a  few 
moments,  awakened  by  my  voice,  he  cried,  'Go 
straight  on  farther ! '  I  was  compelled  to  run  on 
again,  and,  coming  at  a  corner  about  quarter  a  mile 

202 


THE  RIKISHA  -  MAN 

distant  from  the  University  gate,  he  cried  again, 
*  Turn  the  corner ! '  At  last  I  could  arrive  at  his 
house;  he  paid  forty  sen  sharp,  and  disappeared 
into  his  house. 

"  The  bell  on  the  clock-tower  of  the  First  Higher 
Middle  School  struck  one.  I  shivered  by  cold  and 
hastened  to  go  home.  Sweat,  which  had  been 
streaming  over  my  whole  body,  began  to  freeze 
now,  and  I  felt  pains  at  every  part  of  the  body. 
I  put  on  the  blanket  over  the  head  and  walked 
quickly,  warming  the  hands  by  holding  them  over 
the  light  of  lantern.  The  severe  cold  bit  me  more 
and  more ;  stars  were  gazing  upon  me  with  their 
piercing  eyes  high  above  the  sky,  and  the  roofs  of 
the  houses  on  both  sides  of  the  street  were  covered 
with  the  glazed  frost. 

"It  was  a  quarter  past  two  when  I  threw  my  half- 
frozen  body  into  my  house.  My  sister  was  not  yet 
in  bed,  but  awaiting  my  return,  and  doing  some  work. 
She  caught  the  sound  of  my  footsteps,  and  soon 
brought  me  a  tub  of  hot  water  to  wash  my  feet. 
'  Why  were  you  so  late  ? '  asked  she.  '  I  expected 
you  would  come  back  by  twelve.'  There  were  tears 
in  her  eyes  when  she  spoke  and  saw  me.  I  said 
nothing,  and,  after  washed  the  feet,  I  came  into  the 
room  and  changed  the  clothes.  My  legs  were 
swollen  up,  so  that  I  could  not  sit  down  on  my 
knees,  and  was  compelled  to  lie  down  upon  the 
mat.  My  sister  was  anxious  about  my  health,  and 
enquired  very  kindly ;  my  brother,  who  was  sleep- 
ing in  bed,  woke,  and  feared  whether  I  was  ill. 
' Never  mind,  my  dear  brother  and  sister,'  said  I ; 
1  it  was  the  first  night  for  me,  and  I  worked  a  little 
too  hard  this  night,  but  after  to-morrow  I  shall  be 
more  careful.'  I  gave  her  my  purse,  in  which  the 
money  earned  first  by  my  new  calling  was  contained. 

"While  I  was  lying  in  bed  I  thought  how  happy 
I  was  to  have  such  a  kind  brother  and  a  merciful 
sister  at  my  home.  Most  of  my  fellows  have  no 

203 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

home,  and  spend  up  all  their  little  money,  which 
they  could  get  by  their  hardest  labour,  in  drinking 
and  gambling. 

"  Next  morning  I  got  up  at  nine  and  felt  so  heavy 
pains  all  over  my  body  and  limbs  that  I  could  hardly 
move.  After  breakfast  I  went  to  the  bath,  and  on 
the  way  back  called  on  Kinsan." 


204 


CHAPTER  XX 

KYOTO 

You  are  now  in  a  first-class  car  of  the  express  train 
in  a  night  of  spring  to  visit  Kyoto,  leaving  the 
Shimbashi  Station  at  9  P.M.  In  your  car  there  are 
twelve  passengers  —  four  ladies  and  eight  gentle- 
men. About  the  time  when  the  train  passed  out 
the  seven  tunnels  of  Mount  Hakone  all  of  the 
passengers  fall  into  sleep,  some  leaning  against  the 
benches  and  others  lying  down  upon  them,  all 
covering  their  bodies  with  blankets.  You  do  not 
feel  sleepy  yet,  and,  after  ordering  a  train  boy  to 
bring  a  cup  of  coffee,  begin  to  talk  with  him. 

"  Thank  you,  boy,"  say  you,  when  he  has  brought 
the  cup  of  hot  coffee  and  you  give  him  a  tip  of  two 
fifty-sen  silvers ;  "  it  is  now  past  midnight,  and  all 
passengers  have  fallen  in  sleep.  It  is  a  bad  habit 
for  me  that  I  cannot  sleep  in  a  train  at  any  occasion, 
and  so  I  have  to  pass  the  night  awaking  always. 
If  you  have  no  special  business  at  this  dead  of 
night,  will  you  tell  me  some  interesting  news  in 
relation  to  your  life  as  the  train  boy?" 

"Thank  you  very  much,  gentleman,"  replies  he, 
bowing  for  your  affluent  gift ;  "  all  passengers  being 
in  sleep  now,  I  have  no  business  at  present  till 
near  dawn,  and,  if  you  like  to  hear  something  from 
me,  I  shall  be  glad  to  tell  anything  I  know.  I  fear, 
however,  my  story  cannot  please  you,  but,  anyhow, 

205 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

I  shall  try  to  kill  time  for  you."     He  takes  a  vacant 
seat  on  your  opposite  side  and  begins  to  speak  : — 

"Please  look  at  these,"  says  the  boy,  taking  two 
or  three  small  toys  out  of  his  pocket ;  "  I  got 
these  toys  from  a  merchant  in  the  train.  Among 
the  third  -  class  passengers  in  a  train  there  are 
several  kinds  of  merchants,  who  enter  the  train  as 
common  passengers  but  sell  their  articles  to  the 
other  passengers  when  the  train  left  the  station  and 
began  to  run  ;  indeed  they  are  running  a  risk  for 
carrying  on  their  business  in  spite  of  the  strict 
prohibition  by  order.  The  merchandises  commonly 
sold  by  these  train  smugglers  are  toys,  picture 
cards,  magazines,  and  pamphlets,  air-cushions,  etc. 
To  show  you  how  skilful  they  are  to  tempt  the 
passengers  to  purchase  their  goods,  I  shall  try  to 
mimic  the  explanation  done  by  a  merchant  of 
picture  cards. 

"  Suppose  a  train  is  now  in  the  midst  of  its 
running,  and  in  a  third-class  car  crammed  up  with 
passengers  a  man  suddenly  stands  up  from  his 
seat  at  one  corner  of  the  room,  and,  holding  high 
up  a  set  of  picture  cards  between  his  right  fingers, 
begins  to  deliver  a  speech :  '  Ladies  and  gentlemen, 
I  beg  you  to  lend  me  your  ears  for  a  few  minutes. 
These  are  excellent  picture  postcards  showing  the 
fine  views  of  famous  places  along  the  highroad  of 
Tokaido  from  Tokyo  to  Kyoto.  One  set  consists 
of  fifty-three  cards,  corresponding  to  the  fifty-three 
relay-stations  on  the  highway  in  the  feudal  age,  and 
all  pictures  are  printed  in  colours.  If  you  go  to  a 
shop  in  Tokyo  and  buy  the  picture  cards  equal  to 
these  I  have  here,  you  must  pay  fifty  sen  per  set  at 
least,  but  to-day  I  propose  an  extreme  low  price  for 
mine,  by  which  you  would  be  certainly  surprised. 
These  pictures  are  the  best  things  to  please  your 
sons  and  daughters,  or  most  suitable  for  the  presents 
to  your  neighbours  as  the  souvenir  of  your  visit  to 
Tokyo.  One  set  costs  ten  sen,  only  ten  sen  ! ' 

206 


KYOTO 

"Among  the  passengers  in  the  car  there  are 
country  folks  on  their  way  back  to  their  native 
provinces,  and,  deceived  by  the  flatteries  and  the 
cheap  price,  many  of  them  open  the  mouth  of  their 
purses  and  pour  their  ten-sen  silvers  into  the  hand 
of  the  smuggler.  If  you  take  these  picture  cards 
into  your  hand  and  look  at  them  well,  you  will  find 
that  they  are  made  of  very  bad  paper  and  very 
rough  print,  yet  the  innocent  rustics  are  glad  to 
have  unexpectedly  got  a  very  good  gift  for  their 
family  or  friends  by  a  small  money  of  only  ten  sen. 
Other  kinds  of  the  train  smugglers  carry  on  their 
business  in  a  similar  way  as  done  by  the  merchant 
of  picture  postcards. 

"If  the  train  approaches  the  next  station,  he 
stops  his  chattering  and  sits  down  silent  on  his 
seat,  like  a  common  passenger.  When  the  train 
stops  at  the  station  he  jumps  out  of  his  car  and 
enters  another  car.  The  train  begins  its  motion 
again ;  then  he  renews  his  oration  in  the  new  room. 
Thus  he  pursues  his  business  through  all  cars  of  the 
train.  Sir,  the  train  smugglers  are  so  wise  that  their 
haunts  are  limited  to  the  third-class  cars  only,  and 
they  never  visit  the  first  and  second  classes. 

"Now  I  shall  speak  something  about  the  train 
boys.  Outsiders  think  that  our  life  is  simple  and 
easy,  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  are  in  a  weak  and 
pitiful  position  with  the  passengers ;  we  are  strictly 
ordered  that,  even  if  we  are  beaten  by  them,  we 
must  not  strike  back  against  them,  and  that,  though 
they  urge  us  any  unreasonable  matters,  we  must 
obey  them  with  no  complaints ;  in  a  word,  our 
business  is  not  manly.  Some  passengers  are  dis- 
pleased even  if  any  of  us  happens  to  take  a  seat 
here  for  a  few  moments. 

"  Our  salary  is  only  ten  yen  one  month,  but  we 
have  such  a  self-confidence  in  our  duty  that  we 
take  the  whole  charge  of  the  Imperial  Japanese 
Railways.  Don't  laugh,  sir;  please  listen  to  my 

207 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

reason.  The  reputation  of  the  railways  solely 
depends  upon  the  train  boys,  because  if  it  becomes 
bad,  the  cause  is  always  ascribed  to  the  bad  treat- 
ment of  passengers  by  the  boys,  while  there  are 
no  faults  in  the  train  itself.  Our  ages  are  limited 
from  eighteen  to  twenty-one,  and  when  we  come 
beyond  the  limit  we  are  appointed  conductors.  If 
we  can  speak  English  we  are  treated  well,  and  have 
more  chances  to  get  good  tips  than  those  who 
cannot  understand  it.  In  the  examinations  for 
appointment  of  boys,  we  are  inspected  on  our 
appearance,  besides  those  on  our  attainments.  Don't 
joke  me,  sir ;  I  am  not  a  handsome  boy  ! 

"  The  physical  strength  is  an  essential  most 
important  for  the  train  boys.  If  there  happens  to 
appear  a  drunkard  or  a  riotous  fellow  in  a  train,  it 
is  our  duty  to  arrest  him.  If  we  were  small  and 
feeble,  we  should  be  thrown  down  by  him.  (At 
this  moment  he  pricks  up  the  ears.)  Ha!  Uptrain 
comes ;  wait  a  bit,  please.  (He  goes  out  of  the 
car,  and,  after  waving  his  cap  against  the  uptrain 
which  passes  by  your  train,  comes  again.)  As  you 
see,  when  up  and  down  trains  pass  by  each  other 
on  the  way,  the  boys  in  the  both  trains  are  used 
to  wave  their  caps  or  handkerchiefs  for  each  other's 
health.  The  total  number  of  the  train  boys  for  the 
Tokaido  line  are  one  hundred  and  twenty,  one  half 
of  which  lives  in  Tokyo  and  the  other  in  Kobe. 

"  Danger  for  train  boys  ?  Yes,  there  are  dangers  for 
us,  indeed.  Lately,  when  a  boy  was  to  turn  a  switch 
of  the  electric  lights  at  the  outside  of  the  room,  the 
train  happened  to  come  upon  a  curve  line,  and  he  was 
suddenly  thrown  out  of  it.  While  he  was  lying  dis- 
mayed on  the  railroad  for  some  minutes,  he  heard 
the  whistles  of  an  uptrain.  Being  greatly  surprised 
and  flurried,  he  ran  up  into  the  uptrain's  line  itself  by 
mistake,  and  was  crushed  to  pieces. 

"  In  night  trains  specially  we  often  meet  the  train 
suicides,  and  above  the  rest  the  shingii  (suicide  of 

208 


KYOTO 

lovers  together)  is  most  cruel.  The  drenching  rain 
is  falling  and  the  train  running  in  its  full  speed 
through  the  darkness;  passengers  in  all  cars  are  in 
sound  sleep  just  as  in  this  night.  Suddenly  an  alarm 
of  successive  whistles  breaks  the  silence,  and  we  cannot 
help  to  shudder  at  this  moment.  When  the  alarm 
has  ceased  and  the  train  stopped,  the  two  corpses  of 
young  man  and  woman  who  died  the  pitiful  death  are 
seen  lying  on  the  rail  in  some  distance  from  each 
other.  It  is  strange  that  the  places  of  suicide  are 
limited  to  certain  points  through  the  whole  line,  and 
hence  some  superstitious  people  believe  that  the  spirit 
of  the  dead  invites  the  others  to  die  at  the  same  place 
where  he  killed  himself. 

"  As  to  the  tips,  formerly  we  were  not  permitted  to 
receive  anything  from  passengers,  but  nobody,  who 
once  proposed  to  give  something  to  a  person,  likes  to 
withdraw  it  if  it  is  refused  by  him.  Once  there  was 
such  a  quick-tempered  passenger  who,  being  refused 
by  a  boy  to  receive  a  tip,  was  very  angry,  and,  at  last, 
having  thrown  it  away  out  of  the  window,  gave  a  blow 
upon  the  boy's  head.  But  lately  we  were  ordered  not 
to  decline  the  favour  of  passengers.  Men  are  generally 
liberal,  but  women  taken  by  our  comrades  to  be  frugal. 
We  often  experience  that  when  a  gentleman  tells  his 
wife  to  give  one  yen  to  a  boy,  she  protests,  '  No,  my 
dear,  fifty  sen  will  do;  that's  quite  enough,'  and  the 
consequence  is  the  boy's  loss  of  half  a  yen. 

"As  we  wait  upon  the  passengers  of  all  ranks 
every  night  and  day,  we  can  judge  the  character  of 
each  person  at  one  glance.  Some  kind  gentlemen 
sympathised  with  me,  and,  giving  their  addresses, 
advised  me  to  call  on  them  on  holidays.  They  told 
me  that,  if  I  wish  to  take  any  other  business,  they 
will  be  kind  enough  to  recommend  me  to  some 
proper  positions.  I  regret  that,  however,  I  have  been 
accustomed  to  the  bad  habit  of  the  train-boy's  life ;  at 
present  it  is  very  difficult  for  me  to  take  a  regular  work 
in  the  fixed  hours,  so  irregular  and  wild  is  our  life." 

209  O 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

At  this  time  the  chief  waiter  comes  near  the  door 
of  the  room  and  calls  the  boy  who  is  talking  with 
you.  The  two  go  away  into  another  car  and  dis- 
appear. 

Early  on  the  next  morning  the  train  arrives  at  the 
Kyoto  station,  and,  getting  down  from  the  car,  you 
hire  a  rikisha,  which  runs  for  your  hotel  at  Shi  jo 
Street.  In  this  evening  you  are  invited  by  your  in- 
timate friends  at  the  city  to  Gion,  the  place  famous 
for  cherry-flowers  and  beautiful  geiko  (singing-girls, 
equal  to  geisha  in  Tokyo.  Small  dancing-girls,  that 
are  named  the  Oshaku  in  Tokyo,  are  called  the  maiko 
— literally,  dancing-girls — in  Kyoto).  Thus  you  have 
got  a  chance  to  try  a  night  view  of  cherry  blossoms 
in  the  west  capital.  (Kyoto  is  sometimes  called 
Saikyo,  which  means  the  West  City,  in  contrast  to 
Tokyo,  the  East  City.) 

In  Tokyo  you  can  find  various  places  good  for 
reviewing  the  cherry  flowers ;  even  the  bluff  quarters 
of  the  city  are  so  abundant  in  the  trees  that  you  can 
sufficiently  take  the  pleasure  of  admiring  the  flowers 
in  the  private  gardens  of  nobles  and  gentlemen  living 
in  these  localities.  But  in  Kyoto,  evergreen  trees 
are  common  for  the  garden  plants,  cherry-trees  being 
very  rare  to  be  found  in  the  court-yards.  Conse- 
quently, the  citizens  of  Kyoto  have  to  visit  parks  or 
outskirts  in  order  to  have  the  views  of  the  spring 
flowers,  and  a  queer  habit  of  carrying  the  lacquered 
picnic-boxes,  filled  with  sweets  and  dishes,  together 
with  them  has  become  common  among  the  Kyoto 
flower  visitors. 

In  Tokyo,  it  is  generally  windy  in  the  season  of 
cherry  flowers,  but  in  the  ever-peaceful  city  of  Kyoto, 
it  is  very  calm  every  day.  Indeed  Kyoto,  the  old 
capital  of  Japan,  is  the  world  of  dreams ;  the  blue 
transparent  sky  over  the  city  is  bright  with  rays  of 
the  spring  sun,  and  a  mild  breeze  disturbing  the  calm 
atmosphere  a  little  is  so  weak  that  it  cannot  flutter 
even  the  light  red  skirt  of  a  lovely  damsel  passing  on 

210 


KYOTO 

the  street.  Sometimes  the  sky  is  covered  with  white 
clouds,  but  it  is  rare  to  have  rainy  days  during  the 
spring.  In  the  flower  season,  citizens  are  busy  for 
preparation  of  flower  picnics  every  day,  and  go  out 
of  their  gloomy  houses  shut  with  the  lattice  doors  for 
the  flower  quarters  in  the  suburbs  to  the  east  and  the 
west. 

The  cherry  flowers  in  Kyoto  are  generally  of  single 
petals  and  hang  on  the  branches  very  calmly,  like 
those  of  double  petals  blooming  in  the  later  spring  at 
Tokyo.  If  you  compare  the  flowers  in  Tokyo  and 
Kyoto,  you  can  distinguish  the  characters  of  the 
citizens  in  the  two  cities :  those  of  Tokyo  are 
gorgeous,  spirited,  and  fall  off  quickly  by  the  wind, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  those  of  Kyoto  are  thickly  beauti- 
ful and  weak  in  giving  impression  into  your  brain. 
By  viewing  the  cherries  of  such  a  thick  and  dull 
colour,  however,  you  would  reflect  upon  the  old  age 
of  Kyoto,  when  the  court  nobles  and  ladies  used  to 
visit  the  places  of  flowers  in  their  vehicles  drawn  by 
servants  or  oxen.  The  sites  of  flowers  noted  in  Kyoto 
are  Arashiyama  (Mount  Arashi),  Omuro  and  Hirano ; 
and  Gion  is  celebrated  for  its  night  scenery. 

The  honour  of  the  night  flowers  of  Gion  is 
monopolised  by  only  one  large  old  cherry-tree,  which 
stands  aloft  like  the  king  of  all  cherry-trees,  though 
there  are  a  great  number  of  smaller  trees  in  the 
vicinity,  and  thousands  of  its  drooping  branches 
hang  down  heavily  almost  to  the  ground.  At  the 
time  when  it  blooms,  the  girls'  dance,  noted  by  the 
name  of  the  Miyako-odori,  is  opened  in  a  hall  specially 
established  for  the  performance,  and  the  streets  of 
Gion  around  the  King  of  Cherries  are  the  den  of 
Geiko  and  Maiko  (singing-  and  dancing-girls).  You 
are  told  that  it  is  the  big,  drooping  cherry  that  opens 
its  flowers  first  of  all  among  the  trees  in  all  parts  of 
the  city. 

Towards  the  evening  the  shops  in  the  streets  of 
Sanjo  and  Shijo  are  already  lighted  and  the  weather 

211 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

is  quite  calm,  so  that  even  a  spring  breeze  cannot  be 
felt.  Accompanied  by  your  friends  you  pass  over  a 
long  bridge,  which  is  thrown  across  the  River  Kamo, 
and  then  coming  into  the  quarter  of  Gion,  ramble  on 
towards  the  centre  of  flowers.  All  men  and  women 
who  assemble  to  see  the  night  flowers  are  slow  in 
their  steps,  and  the  citizens  of  Kyoto  being  in  the 
habit  of  going  to  bed  early  in  night,  the  circumference 
of  the  large  drooping  cherry  is  already  quite  full  of 
throngs  of  people  at  this  hour  of  early  evening. 

The  King  of  Cherries  is  now  in  its  full  bloom, 
whose  innumerable  white,  small  flowers  hang  on 
the  thousands  of  long  drooping  branches,  and  a 
large  bonfire  burning  on  one  side  of  the  tree 
brightens  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  flowers  on  the 
branches,  and  the  faces  of  visitors,  all  at  once  as 
in  daytime,  while  a  high  gas-lamp,  standing  in  a 
short  distance  from  the  bonfire,  is  emitting  its  pale 
light  faintly  over  the  smaller  cherries  at  a  corner 
of  the  ground.  The  ground,  on  which  all  cherry- 
trees  as  well  as  the  shrine  Gion  are  contained,  is 
appointed  a  park  of  the  city,  and  in  this  broad 
space  you  find  rows  of  large  benches  covered  with 
red  carpets ;  among  these  benches  there  stand 
hundreds  of  beautiful  paper  lanterns  painted  in 
colours.  On  these  benches  a  multitude  of  the 
flower-seers  take  their  seats,  some  drinking  and 
some  singing,  and  the  dishes  and  sweets  filled  in 
the  picnic  -  boxes  brought  on  their  shoulders  are 
opened  on  the  benches  here. 

While  you  are  looking  at  the  old  tree  which 
monopolises  the  fame  of  the  night  flowers  of  Gion, 
you  would  recollect  the  vernal  season  in  the  old 
time  when  the  ronin  or  vagrant  samurai  concentrated 
from  all  local  daimiates  into  Kyoto,  the  residence 
of  the  Emperor  at  the  time  of  the  Great  Restora- 
tion (1867  A.D.);  but  at  present  in  place  of  the 
long  red-sheathed  swords  worn  by  the  samurai^  the 
songs  and  poems  sung  by  them  indignant  at  the 

212 


KYOTO 

corrupt  condition  of  the  country,  or  the  wine  bottles 
tumbled  like  the  heads  of  enemies  under  the  cherry- 
tree  in  that  bloody  period,  there  you  see  charming 
girls  walking  jauntily  together  with  their  patrons 
under  the  flowers  shining  with  the  burning  fire. 

Leaving  the  spot  under  the  old  tree,  you  come 
to  a  street  called  the  Hanami-koji,  where  the  hall 
of  the  Miyako-odori  dance  is  flourishing  with  its 
night  performance.  The  front  of  the  hall  is  fully 
decorated  with  beautiful  red,  round  lanterns,  and, 
entering  the  hall,  you  notice  a  broad  stage  in  full 
decorations  with  artificial  flowers  of  all  seasons 
and  with  thousands  of  large  and  small  electric 
lights.  In  a  few  minutes  there  appears  on  the 
stage  a  body  of  the  so-called  Kyoto -styled  belles 
in  full  dress,  amounting  to  thirty  in  their  number, 
and  they  sing  and  dance  in  accompaniment  of  the 
pure  Japanese  music. 

Next  evening  you  get  an  opportunity  to  visit 
Mount  Arashi  which  hold  the  world-wide  fame 
for  the  views  of  cherry  flowers.  About  seven  miles 
to  the  west  skirt  of  the  city  there  is  a  village 
called  Saga,  a  place  famous  for_  abundance  of  flowers, 
too,  and  beyond  the  River  Oi,  which  flows  along 
the  end  of  the  village,  you  can  look  the  round 
shapely  top  of  Arashiyama.  Across  the  blue, 
transparent  stream  of  the  river  there  is  thrown  a 
bridge,  Togetsu-kyo,  which  is  of  a  very  elegant 
form,  built  of  logs  and  boards  in  the  pure  Japanese 
style.  If  you  stand  on  the  bridge  and  look  at 
the  hill,  you  can  command  its  whole  view  of  white 
or  light  pink  flowers  mingled  among  pine-trees 
and  greens_covering  the  whole  area  of  the  mount. 
The  River  Oi  is  broad,  and  the  bridge  Togetsu  long ; 
the  footpaths  along  the  vales  are  covered  with 
tender  moss.  You  pass  over  the  bridge  and  when 
you  step  on  the  rocky  lane  along  the  bank  towards 
the  temple  Daihikaku,  petal  flakes  of  the  cherries 
fall  fluttering  over  your  head  and  shoulders. 

213 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

On  the  opposite  bank  to  the  mount,  you  see 
the  twinkling  lights  in  the  rooms  of  three  connected 
two-storied  buildings  ;  they  are  the  restaurant  hotels, 
and  noted  by  the  popular  name  of  the  Sangenya, 
which  means  "Three  Houses."  The  buildings  are 
of  the  pure  Japanese  style,  in  harmony  with  the 
rural  scenery  of  Arashiyama  and  environs.  The 
Europeans  who  come  to  Kyoto  as  sightseers  in 
spring  are  fond  of  the  views  of  the  mount,  and 
are  used  to  stay  two  or  three  days  jn  these  hotels. 

The  upper  waters  of  the  River  Oi  is  the  River 
Hodzu,  famous  for  the  adventurous  sport  of  running 
down  the  rapids  in  a  small  boat  by  the  skilful 
management  of  expert  boatsmen  ;  if  you  visit  the 
river  at  the  beginning  of  summer,  you  would  find 
the  rocks  in  the  water  ornamented  beautifully  with 
the  azaleas  of  blazing  red. 

Going  up  and  down  the  hill,  you  ramble  in  the 
woods  of  cherries  and  evergreens  for  some  hours 
under  the  moonlight  of  spring,  and  passing  over 
the  Togetsu  Bridge  back  again  to  the  opposite 
bank,  enter  one  of  the  "Three  Houses"  to  take 
a  refreshment. 

Your  business  at  Kyoto  has  compelled  you  to 
stay  for  several  months,  and  now  the  scene  of 
spring  has  changed  to  that  of  summer.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  old  capital  in  the  summer 
evening  is  a  custom  of  cool-taking  on  the  beach 
of  the  Kamo  River.  In  old  times  benches  were 
arranged  on  the  shallows,  and  citizens  who  came 
to  cool  themselves  off  took  their  seats  on  them, 
and,  hanging  down  their  legs  to  the  stream  so 
as  to  have  their  feet  washed  by  the  cold  water, 
were  to  look  round  and  enjoy  the  beautiful  lights 
in  the  restaurants  and  tea-houses  standing  in  rows 
on  the  banks.  But,  at  present,  the  water  of  the 
river  having  increased,  the  beaches  have  been 
narrowed,  and  the  open  floors  stretched  out  of  the 

214 


KYOTO 

tea-houses  on  the  both  banks  have  taken  the 
place  of  benches  on  the  shallows ;  and  the  cool- 
takers  on  these  floors  drink  the  iced  beer  instead 
of  tea  or  sake.  When  it  becomes  late  in  night, 
the  lights  in  the  hotels  and  restaurants  on  the 
hillside  of  Higashiyama  which  protects  the  east 
side  of  Gion  streets  can  be  faintly  seen  in  a  far 
distance,  and  the  shadows  of  willow-trees  which 
are  planted  along  the  bank  of  the  river  become 
darker  and  darker  when  the  lantern  lights  on  the 
stretched-out  floors  are  gradually  lessened.  Sound 
of  drums  and  samisen  which  reaches  the  open  floors 
drifting  out  of  the  rooms  of  tea-houses  is  now 
replaced  by  the  noise  of  the  running  stream. 

There  are  groups  of  people  who  are  taking  cool 
under  the  bridge  of  Shijo,  and  they  are  proud  of 
occupying  the  position  which  is  believed  by  them 
to  be  coolest  among  all  spots  along  the  river. 
The  more  you  go  to  the  upper  stream  of  the 
Kamo  River  the  cooler  places  you  will  find ;  at 
Sambongi,  the  river  becomes  narrow  and  the  water 
is  near,  the  low  and  wide  banks  covered  with  the 
green  grasses,  a  small  wooden  bridge  about  to  be 
stroked  by  the  stream,  the  flowering  weeds  washed 
by  the  water,  fireflies  flying  about  after  touching 
the  surface  of  the  river,  and  the  sound  of  koto  (a 
kind  of  harp)  played  by  a  lady  under  the  Gifu 
paper  lanterns  on  the  balcony  of  a  lofty  house, 
are  all  the  good  elements  to  bestow  the  feeling 
of  coolness.  Going  on  farther,  the  houses  are 
rarer,  and  the  greens  become  denser  near  the  wood 
Tadasu-no-mori ;  over  the  shallow  on  which  short 
grasses  are  grown,  small  white  flows  are  running 
across  one  another,  forming  a  network. 

Advancing  farther  to  north  and  going  up  the  road 
to  Ohara,  you  arrive  at  the  Upper  Kamo,  where  the 
white  sand  is  finer  and  the  small  stream  is  cleaner. 
If  you  approach  the  waterfall  Kiyotaki  under  the 
hill  Atago,  you  feel  that  the  spot  is  coolest ;  here 

2I5 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

the  valley  is  narrow,  and  the  sun  appears  late  and 
sets  early.  Ascending  the  hill  along  the  bank,  you 
come  to  the  temple  Tsukinowa  on  the  peak,  and 
descending  along  the  water  again,  the  path  is  cut 
off  by  a  stream,  which  falls  into  the  River  Hodzu 
at  the  long  run.  If  you  stay  in  an  inn  near  the  river 
at  about  the  middle  of  August,  and  lie  down  upon 
the  bed,  leaving  all  the  windows  of  the  room  open, 
you  would  be  pleased  to  see  big  fireflies  around 
the  mosquito-net  driven  in  by  a  cool  breeze.  Near 
the  midnight,  you  are  awaked  from  sleep  by  the 
songs  at  the  gate  of  the  inn,  and  looking  out  of 
a  window  you  see  five  or  seven  young  men  and 
women  dancing  in  a  ring  by  the  side  of  dimly- 
lighted  paper  lanterns  ;  you  understand  that  they 
are  in  performance  of  a  Bon  festival  dance.  (The 
Bon  is  the  festival  of  the  dead,  celebrated  for  three 
days  in  the  midst  of  every  summer). 

One  evening  you  go  to  try  the  pleasure  on  the  open 
floor  of  a  tea-house  in  the  street  Kiyamachi,  along  the 
west  bank  of  the  River  Kamo. 

When  you  come  out  of  the  bathroom,  after  washing 
away  the  sweat  of  the  day  and  putting  on  a  yukata 
(bathing  gown)  made  of  a  checkered  white  cloth,  a 
young,  nice  waitress  is  waiting  for  you  near  the  door 
of  the  bathroom. 

"Arrangements  are  done  already,  sir,"  says  she, 
when  she  see  you  coming  out ;  "  please  go  to  the  floor 
directly." 

"  Thank  you,"  say  you,  "  and  please  bring  a  glass 
of  iced  beer." 

"Yes,  sir,  I  shall  be  soon  to  the  floor  with  it," 
replies  the  girl. 

Wiping  your  face  with  the  wet  towel  in  your  hand, 
you  come  on  the  floor  stretched  out  of  the  main 
building  over  the  beach  of  the  river.  The  setting 
sun,  which  was  shining  with  its  blazing  red,  have 
already  sunk  behind  the  west  mountain,  and  the 
twilight  of  the  summer  evening  governs  all  the  space 

216 


KYOTO 

from  the  river  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill  Higashiyama 
far  distant  to  the  east.  In  the  girls'  quarter  of  the 
street  Miyagawacho  on  the  opposite  bank,  faint  lights 
in  restaurants  and  tea-houses  are  glistening  like  stars, 
and  the  figures  of  a  number  of  girls  in  summer  gowns 
can  be  seen  near  the  railings  of  these  houses.  The 
heat  which  was  hold  in  the  gravel  of  the  beach  having 
gone  out  now,  a  cool,  gentle  breeze  begins  to  stroke 
your  face. 

With  the  feeling  of  happiness  and  refreshment 
which  stirs  up  your  mind,  you  take  the  seat  near 
the  table  placed  at  the  centre  of  the  floor,  and 
your  feet  and  legs  are  comfortably  cooled,  by 
sitting  down  on  a  large  hemp  cushion  put  on  the  mat 
spread  over  the  floor.  The  two  silk  lanterns  on 
the  stands  and  the  Gifu  lanterns  hanging  down 
from  the  cross  -  pieces  of  the  floor  throws  their 
beautiful  rays  upon  the  dishes  of  ear-shells,  salad, 
and  pickled  fish  ;  the  incense  burning  in  the  tobacco- 
tray  gently  floats  its  fragrance  in  the  moist  air  of 
the  night. 

After  a  few  minutes  the  waitress,  dressed  in  the 
white  summer  clothes,  comes  into  the  floor,  holding  a 
bottle  of  beer  in  one  hand  and  a  glass  pot  full  of  ice 
pieces  in  the  other. 

"  I  am  very  sorry,  sir,"  says  she,  sitting  down  on 
your  opposite  side  of  the  table ;  "  I've  kept  you 
waiting  so  long."  She  gives  you  the  glass,  into  which 
she  pours  the  beer  out  of  the  bottle  and  then  puts  in 
pieces  of  ice.  On  the  floors  next  to  yours  on  the 
both  sides,  and  the  third,  the  fourth,  the  fifth  and  so 
on,  all  those  stretched  out  of  every  tea-house  or 
restaurant,  the  number  of  the  paper  or  silk  lanterns 
are  gradually  increased ;  men  and  women  in  white 
summer  dresses  can  be  seen  on  the  floors  here  and 
there  through  the  neat  reed-blinds.  Noises  of  the 
currents  become  louder  gradually,  and  the  singing 
insects  in  the  green  bushes  growing  near  the  beach 
can  be  heard  as  if  to  welcome  the  cool  night. 

217 


THE  NTGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

"  Gentleman,  please  buy  the  tsujiura  \ " l  sounded 
an  affecting  voice  of  a  little  girl  from  under  the  floor, 
and  at  the  same  moment  there  appeared  above  the 
railing  a  bamboo  pole,  at  the  top  of  which  a  bundle 
of  the  tshjiura  and  a  small  money-bag  are  tied  up. 

"  No  need,  here,"  replies  the  waitress,  standing  up 
and  approaching  the  railing.  "  Don't  come  so  often 
every  evening."  Looking  over  the  railing  unper- 
ceivedly,  you  find  a  little  girl  of  some  ten  or  eleven, 
standing  in  a  ford,  and  holding  up  the  long  pole. 
"  Be  merciful  to  me  and  be  kind  enough  to  take  one," 
beseeches  the  girl  again.  "  But  the  gentleman  doesn't 
want  it,"  retorts  the  maid  in  her  easy  tone.  "  Wait 
a  bit  nehsan  (waitress),"  interpose  you,  "  take  some  of 
her  tsujiura^  and  let  her  have  some  money."  The 
waitress  takes'  a  sum  out  of  her  purse  and  puts  it  into 
the  money-bag  on  the  pole  ;  then  taking  three  or  four 
pieces  of  the  luck  papers,  she  comes  back  to  the  table. 
"  This  piece  is  for  your  luck,"  says  she,  giving  you  one 
of  the  tsujiura  whose  edges  are  nicely  coloured  with 
red  or  blue  ink,  "  and  the  others  I  beg  to  be  distri- 
buted among  us." 

Opening  your  piece,  you  read  a  clause  informing 
that  your  luck  is  very  good.  "  I  envy  you,"  says  the 
waitress,  laughing,  "you  must  be  very  fortunate  this 
evening,  sir.  Wouldn't  you  call  geiko-han  or  maiko- 
han  ?  "  (singing-  or  dancing-girls  ;  han  is  an  honorific 
used  by  the  Kyoto  people).  "Well,"  replies  you 
undecidedly,  "you  may  telephone  for  some  girls." 
Reading  assent  on  my  face,  she  leaves  the  floor 
and  retires  into  the  main  building. 

In  less  than  half  an  hour,  there  come  in  on  the  floor 
one  young  singing-  and  two  small  dancing-girls,  and 
sitting  down  and  bowing  very  politely  near  the 
entrance,  they  express  their  gratitude  for  your  kind 
engagement  simultaneously !  "Thank  you,  gentlemen." 

1  Tsujiura  is  a  small  piece  of  paper  with  a  clause  or  a  poem  printed 
on  it,  and  people  take  it  for  pleasure  to  divine  their  luck  by  the^clause 
or  poem. 

218 


KYOTO 

Glittering  of  the  stars  scattered  throughout  the  sky 
are  now  enfeebled  by  the  silvery  light  of  the  full 
moon  which  has  risen  above  the  hill  Higashiyama. 
The  rows  of  the  roofs  on  the  opposite  bank  can 
be  distinctly  seen  now  by  the  pale  light  of  the  moon. 
On  the  two  currents  branched  off  on  the  beach  of 
the  river,  the  ripples  shining  like  scales  by  the  moon- 
light are  rapidly  running  and  the  sound  of  music, 
and  the  voice  of  singing  in  a  restaurant  at  a  far 
distance  faintly  reach  your  ears,  being  sent  by  the 
night  breeze. 

"  How  cool  it  is  here ! "  says  one  of  the  dancing- 
girls,  clad  in  her  gay  gauze  dress  and  leaning  against 
the  railing  of  the  floor.  "  We  were  engaged  to  the 
Kametsuruhan  (name  of  a  tea-house)  just  now.  It 
was  very  hot  in  that  house,  and  when  we  did  a  dance, 
our  backs  were  entirely  wet  with  sweat." 

"It  was  hot,  certainly,"  says  the  other  dancing-girl, 
who  sits  down  by  your  side,  and  is  fanning  her 
breast  with  her  small  red  and  golden  fan.  "  So  we 
were  very  glad  when  we  were  told  that  we  have  been 
engaged  to  this  house." 

When  you  ask  them  whether  they  want  any  cold 
beverages,  one  of  them  replies :  "  Thank  you,  sir ; 
please  let  me  have  a  glass  of  iced  kintoki  "  (boiled  red 
beans  mixed  with  sugar  water,  very  popular  among 
the  girls  in  Kyoto  and  Osaka).  "Then  I  prefer 
ice-cream,"  says  the  other. 

At  this  moment  the  girl  who  was  near  the  railing 
and  looking  down  at  the  river  suddenly  cried  out: 
"  Look  here,  floated  again  by  somebody  !  "  You 
and  the  two  girls  look  towards  the  direction  pointed 
by  her,  and  there  find  the  two  small  lights  drifting 
down  on  the  water  from  the  upper  stream  pursuing 
each  other.  Coming  nearer,  you  see  that  the  two 
small  candles  are  lighted  in  the  peels  of  water- 
melons which  are  hollowed  out  and  made  lanterns  in 
the  hemispherical  form,  perhaps  by  dancing-girls  or 
waitresses  in  a  tea-house.  The  melon-lanterns  are 

219 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

often  about  to  be  overthrown  by  the  rapids,  and  the 
young  dancing-girls,  who  are  anxious  of  the  fate  of 
the  lights,  cry  out,  clapping  their  hands:  "  O,  dangerous, 
dangerous ! " 

The  pretty  melon  lights  floating  down  quickly  on 
the  stream,  the  two  dancing-girls  earnestly  looking 
at  them  near  the  railing  of  the  floor,  cool  night 
breezes  coming  from  the  river,  and  the  full  moon  in 
the  sky  high  above  Mount  Higashi  throwing  her 
silvery  light  upon  everything — all  these  are  the 
beauties  characteristic  to  Kyoto  in  the  summer  night. 


220 


CHAPTER   XXI 

OSAKA 

IN  the  age  of  the  Tokugawa  Shogunate,  Yedo 
(Tokyo),  Kyoto  and  Osaka  were  called  by  a 
generalised  name  of  "  Sanga  no  Tsu,"  which  means 
the  "  Three  Cities," — Yedo,  the  seat  of  the  Shogun  ; 
Kyoto,  the  residence  of  the  Emperor,  and  Osaka  (or 
Naniwa),  the  centre  of  commerce.  So  is  Osaka  at 
present  the  focus  for  trade  and  commerce  of  Japan, 
the  large  wholesale  merchants  of  all  kinds  of 
merchandises  being  concentrated  in  the  city. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  while  you  are  staying 
in  Kyoto,  you  get  a  chance  to  visit  Osaka.  In  July 
there  are  held  several  summer  festivals  by  the 
citizens  of  Osaka  : — the  Ikutama  Shrine  on  8th  and 
9th,  the  Namba  Shrine  on  I2th  and  I3th,  the 
Hachiman  Shrine  on  I4th  and  1 5th, the  Goryo  Shrine 
on  1 6th  and  I7th,  the  Kodzu  Shrine  on  I7th  and 
1 8th,  the  Inari  Shrine  on  2Oth  and  2ist,  the  Zama 
Shrine  on  2ist  and  22nd,  the  Tenjin  Shrine  on 
24th  and  25th,  and  the  last  one  for  Sumiyoshi  Shrine 
on  3 ist  and  1st  August.  On  the  festival  days  of 
each  tutelary  god,  all  the  shops  of  merchants  are 
cleaned  by  sweeping  and  wiping,  the  curtains  marked 
with  the  crest  of  each  house  are  stretched  in  the 
front,  the  gold  and  silver  screens  are  arranged  along 
the  walls  of  the  front  room,  the  fine  carpets  are 
spread  on  the  matting  floor,  and  the  clerks  and  the 

221 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

boys  are  playing  chess  or  checkers  to  enjoy  the 
pleasant  and  peaceful  temporary  holidays. 

Towards  the  evening  long  paper  lanterns  are 
lighted  in  front  of  each  shop ;  they  hang  on  the 
poles  projected  from  the  eaves,  the  poles  being  of 
the  mother-of-pearl  lacquer  work  and  ornamented 
with  the  silver  fittings  ;  there  is  attached  a  tuft  of 
snow-white  feathers  at  the  end  of  a  pole  and  a  bell 
at  the  bottom  of  a  lantern.  When  it  becomes  dark, 
the  little  sons  and  daughters  of  the  merchants  in 
full  dress  go  to  the  shrine  for  prayer,  guided  by 
the  servants  who  carry  the  paper  lanterns  in  their 
hands. 

Among  these  festivals  of  several  deities,  that  of 
the  shrine  Tenjin  is  most  splendid.  It  is  the  festival 
of  fire  :  hundreds  of  boats,  in  each  of  which  a  blazing 
bonfire  is  burnt,  row  down  the  course  of  the  main 
rivers  in  the  city,  brilliantly  shining  the  dark  banks 
on  the  both  sides,  and  at  the  middle  of  these  fire- 
boats,  a  Mikoshi  (a  carriable  shrine),  a  sacred  vehicle, 
Shinto  priests,  witches,  and  musicians  on  board  the 
larger  boats  march  guarded  by  the  other  boats.  By 
the  dawn  of  the  next  morning  the  god  is  to  arrive 
at  the  resting-place  at  Matsushima,  passing  through 
under  a  great  number  of  the  bridges  which  are 
thrown  across  the  rivers.  In  this  evening  the  both 
banks  of  the  rivers,  on  which  the  fire-boats  float 
down,  are  thronged  with  spectators  who  assemble 
from  every  part  of  the  city  to  see  the  fire-boats  as 
well  as  to  worship  the  shrine  in  the  boat. 

Osaka  is  the  city  of  water ;  the  extraordinary 
number  of  rivers  and  canals  crossing  one  another 
throughout  the  city  make  the  veins  of  the  city.  The 
Yodo,  the  Neya,  the  Dojima,  the  Tosabori,  and  the 
Aji  are  the  largest  principal  rivers,  and  the  Kidzu, 
the  Shirinashi,  the  Higashi-Yokobori,  the  Nishi- 
Yokobori,  the  Nagabori,  and  the  Dotombori  are  the 
larger  ones  too.  Across  these  and  other  smaller 
rivers  and  canals  there  are  thrown  two  hundred  and 

222 


OSAKA 

forty-three  bridges,  of  which  the  Namba,  the  Temma, 
and  the  Tenjin  are  called  the  three  largest  bridges. 
If  you  row  down  the  courses  of  the  waters  by  a 
boat,  you  would  find  new  interests  of  pleasure,  which 
can  never  be  experienced  in  Tokyo,  and  it  is  a 
special  refreshment  to  cool  yourself  off  on  the  river 
in  a  summer  night.  Every  evening  in  summer,  at 
any  parts  of  the  banks  along  the  canals,  you  can  find 
some  pleasure-boats  waiting  for  the  guests  of  cool- 
taking.  One  evening  you  hire  a  boat,  and  at  once 
the  boatsmen  begin  to  row  for  a  large  river.  On  the 
both  banks  of  the  canal  you  see  the  back  sides  of 
houses  standing  in  rows ;  on  the  windows  of  some 
houses  there  hang  the  green  summer  grasses  called 
Shinobu-gusa  (Davallia  bullata),  twisted  into  a  round 
ball  or  various  other  forms ;  on  the  balconies, 
stretched  out  over  the  water,  a  number  of  pot-plants 
are  seen  arranged  on  the  shelves ;  the  Gifu  paper 
lanterns  nicely  painted  can  be  seen  hanging  under 
the  eaves  of  the  second  story  ;  on  a  roof  platform, 
built  for  drying  clothes  which  are  washed,  there 
you  find  an  old  woman  and  a  young  girl  who  are 
leaning  against  the  railing  and  looking  down  at 
your  boat,  which  is  just  rowing  down  under  them. 
In  the  streets  you  felt  sultry  this  day,  but  when 
your  boat  comes  out  on  the  River  Dojima,  you  are 
relieved  by  the  breeze  which  blows  on  the  waters. 
Along  the  banks  of  the  large  river,  you  would  find 
the  restaurant  boats,  where  fish  are  always  kept 
and  dishes  served  at  any  time ;  rowing  your  boat 
near  one  of  them,  you  order  to  provide  some  dishes 
and  wine  for  your  boat.  Meanwhile,  the  last  rays  of 
the  setting  sun  go  faint,  and  the  whole  surface  of 
the  river  is  covered  with  darkness.  At  this  time 
you  notice  hundreds  of  the  excursion  boats  around 
yours,  the  lights  of  their  paper  lanterns  beginning 
now  to  glow  in  the  dark  like  stars.  On  the  upper 
waters  at  a  far  distance,  the  sound  of  fireworks  can 
be  heard,  and  the  meteors  are  seen  shooting  through 

223 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

the  sky  over  your  head.  In  a  large  boat  near  yours 
laughters  and  chatters  of  men  and  women  are  very 
noisy,  and  you  find  they  are  a  company  of  merchants 
and  singing-girls  who  are  enjoying  the  cool  refresh- 
ment, the  girls  perhaps  having  been  engaged  from 
the  gay  circle  of  the  Nanchi  (South  Quarter).  While 
the  great  number  of  the  pleasure-boats  are  floating 
to  and  fro,  people  on  board  taking  cool  and  making 
merry,  there  appear  small  boats  of  vendors  row- 
ing up  near  them ;  they  sell  sake  (wine),  sushi 
(pickled  rice  covered  with  fish  flesh),  and  fruits. 
On  board  some  of  them,  there  are  singers  of  Japanese 
songs,  and  they  sing  according  to  the  order  of  the 
guests  in  the  pleasure-boats.  These  vendor-boats 
disappear  into  the  dark  soon,  when  they  finished 
their  business,  and  go  to  another  quarter  of  the 
river  to  catch  other  customers. 

Being  much  pleased  with  the  boat  excursion,  you 
stay  on  the  waters  for  a  long  time,  as  if  you  have 
forgotten  to  go  home,  and  now,  when  you  notice 
that  it  is  very  late,  you  find  that  the  lights  of  the 
boats  around  you  are  very  scarce ;  the  weak  tune 
of  the  samisen  comes  sleepily  to  your  ears  from  the 
far  lower  waters,  and  the  sky  is  full  of  dew,  moisten- 
ing the  air  in  the  late  night. 

Having  experienced  the  boat  excursion  on  the 
river,  you  try  on  another  evening  to  visit  the  pier 
of  the  harbour  Osaka,  the  best  and  famous  place  to 
take  cool  on  land  ;  the  pier  is  the  only  resort  in 
the  city  for  the  citizens  in  summer  evenings.  Getting 
down  the  tram  at  the  terminus,  you  step  on  the  long 
pier  projected  far  into  the  offing,  and,  standing  at 
its  end,  you  can  number  the  lights  on  the  shores 
of  Kobe  and  Kishiwada  situated  beyond  the  sea- 
waves  to  the  right  and  the  left  respectively.  You 
can  take  a  glass  of  beer  at  one  of  the  night-stalls, 
cooling  yourself  off  by  the  sea-breeze,  which  comes 
sweeping  the  surface  of  the  sea. 

224 


OSAKA 

You  may  wonder  to  see  the  night  fishing  on  the 
pier ;  there  are  slight  openings  between  the  boards 
of  the  pier,  and  those  who  are  fond  of  angling  take 
their  seats  on  it,  stretching  out  their  two  legs,  and 
let  go  the  lines  through  the  openings.  Little  bells 
are  attached  to  the  short  fishing-rods  in  their  hands ; 
when  the  fish  bite  the  bells  ring,  but,  as  it  is 
impossible  to  hang  them  up  through  those  narrow 
openings  of  the  pier,  they  should  be  caught  by  some- 
bodies under  the  pier.  For  the  purpose  of  helping 
the  anglers  on  the  pier,  there  are  men  in  small 
boats,  which  are  moored  under  the  pier.  The  anglers 
beckon  them,  when  the  fish  are  hooked,  and  they 
instantly  haul  in  the  lines  and  catch  the  fish  ;  thus 
they  being  rewarded  by  the  anglers  with  a  fee  for 
each  catch. 

Near  the  Imamiya  station  of  the  electric  trams 
there  is  a  large  recreation  ground  called  the  Shinsekai 
(the  New  World),  covering  a  vast  area  of  over  30 
acres.  At  the  centre  of  the  ground  there  stands 
a  high  iron  tower  of  250  feet  called  the  Tsu-ten- 
kaku  (Tower  leading  to  Heaven) ;  entering  the  tower, 
you  find  the  two  long  flights  of  stairs,  each  con- 
sisting of  70  steps,  and  at  the  point  of  50  feet  above 
the  ground  there  is  a  roof  garden  of  200  tsubo 
(i  tsubo  is  6  feet  square),  whence  you  are  taken 
to  the  top  of  the  tower  by  the  elevator.  If  you 
stand  at  the  top  of  the  tower  in  daytime,  you  can 
command  the  whole  views  of  the  mountains  and 
the  seas  in  and  around  the  provinces  of  Settsu, 
Kawachi,  Kii,  and  Awaji. 

Next  to  the  Tsuten  Tower  there  comes  the  front 
gate  of  the  lunapark,  and  by  the  side  of  the  gate 
two  tall  Indians  in  their  red  uniforms  and  white 
turbans  are  standing  as  guards  and  attracting  the 
curiosity  of  visitors.  The  interior  of  the  lunapark 
is  full  of  many  large  buildings  for  various  shows, 
standing  in  two  rows  on  the  both  sides,  and  the 

225  p 


THE   NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

pond  at  the  centre  is  called  the  Masumi  -  no  -  ike 
(Pond  of  Transparent  Water),  along  which  there 
is  the  White  Tower.  A  large  artificial  waterfall  of 
of  Ayaito  is  flowing  down  from  the  second  story  of 
the  tower,  and  in  the  ice- water  shops  just  below 
the  fall  people  are  enjoying  the  cool  and  admiring 
the  fine  view  of  the  great  column  of  water,  illumin- 
ated with  the  electric  lights. 

From  the  White  Tower  to  the  roof  garden  of  the 
Tsuten  Tower  there  run  the  two  lines  of  iron  cables, 
by  which  the  small  cars,  able  to  contain  only  four 
persons  each,  are  plying  between  the  two  towers. 
The  skating  hall,  the  circling  wave,  and  the  Egyptian 
hall  are  most  popular  among  all  other  shows  and 
performances,  including  the  cinematographs,  the  cold 
storage,  the  beauty  exploration  hall,  etc.  In  a  word, 
the  Shinsekai  may  be  said  the  aggrandisement  of  the 
show  quarter  in  Asakusa  Park  of  Tokyo. 

The  recreation  ground  having  been  established 
lately,  the  trees  are  small  and  few  yet,  so  that  there 
can  be  found  no  shelters  to  avoid  the  sunshine  in 
daytime.  Consequently  the  visitors  to  the  ground 
in  summer  days  are  very  few,  and  the  citizens  throng 
there  after  sunset,  the  whole  ground  being  lighted 
brilliantly  with  the  illuminations  on  all  buildings. 

As  to  the  summer  resorts  in  the  suburbs  of  Osaka, 
Sakai  and  Hamadera  are  the  best  places  on  the 
sea-shores,  and  Mino-o  and  Takarazuka  on  the  hills. 
The  former  two  are  very  prosperous  for  the  sea- 
water  bathing  every  summer.  The  Kairo  of  Sakai 
is  very  famous  among  the  citizens  of  Osaka  ;  it  is 
a  kind  of  the  great  pier  projected  from  the  beach 
into  the  sea,  in  imitation  to  the  pier  of  the  harbour 
Osaka,  being  constructed  in  four  lines  in  the  form 
just  like  the  Roman  figure  II 1 1.,  and  the  full  illumina- 
tions on  each  line  are  beautifully  reflected  upon  the 
waves. 

The  waters  along  the  sea-shore  of  Hamadera  is 
226 


OSAKA 

much  cleaner  than  that  of  Sakai,  and  so  the  bath- 
takers  generally  prefer  the  former.  Towards  the 
evening,  after  the  burning  sun  is  already  set,  if  you 
come  on  the  beach,  along  which  a  long-continued 
green  pine  forest  stands,  and  look  at  the  open  Sea 
of  China,  breathing  the  fresh  air  of  the  sea  breeze, 
what  a  happy  refreshment  you  feel !  Or  you  may 
have  a  game  at  the  billiard  in  one  of  the  restaurants 
near  the  beach,  and,  after  washing  off  the  sweat 
by  taking  a  hot  bath,  come  up  near  the  railing  of 
the  second  story,  which  fronts  to  the  sea ;  what  a 
delicious  supper  you  can  taste  in  the  room,  very 
cool  by  the  night  breeze ! 

Mino-o  is  twelve  miles  distant  from  the  city  of 
Osaka,  and  it  takes  only  twenty  minutes  by  trams. 
It  is  a  place  noted  for  the  views  of  maple -tree 
leaves  in  autumn,  but  in  summer  the  big  torrent 
called  the  Mino-o  Waterfall  at  the  depth  of  the 
mount  attracts  the  attention  of  cool-takers.  To  reach 
the  torrent  you  have  to  march  on  the  narrow  path 
along  the  long,  winding  valley  ;  there  are  no  troubles 
to  visit  it  even  in  the  dark  night,  for  all  the  ways 
are  lighted  with  electric  lamps  shining  under  the 
green  leaves  of  maple-trees.  Upon  the  rocky  banks 
on  the  both  sides  of  the  mountain  stream  you  find 
a  number  of  larger  and  smaller  stylish  buildings ; 
they  are  restaurants  arranged  for  the  summer  visitors, 
and  the  fried  maple  leaves  are  a  strange  and  peculiar 
dish  served  in  these  houses.  While  you  are  taking 
dinner  in  one  of  these  restaurants,  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  hear  the  singing-frogs  in  the  valley. 

Not  a  long  distance  from  the  approach  to  the 
hill  there  is  a  red  bridge  thrown  across  the  valley, 
and  on  passing  it  over  you  find  a  large,  red  gate, 
ornamented  in  colours  and  fully  illuminated  too. 
It  is  the  entrance  of  the  zoological  garden  estab- 
lished by  the  Mino-o  Railway  Company.  The  hill- 
sides, the  plains,  and  the  valley  are  skilfully  adapted 
for  the  habitats  of  animals  and  birds ;  the  garden 

227 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

is  the  favourite  resort  for  children  who  come  to 
Mino-o. 

Takarazuka  is  the  seat  of  mineral  spring,  situated 
on  the  hill  along  the  same  railway  to  Mino-o. 
Visitors  generally  take  bath  in  a  large  public  bath- 
tank,  constructed  of  marble  stone  and  protected 
with  brass  railings  on  four  sides ;  the  price  of  a  bath 
is  only  five  sen.  If  you  wish  to  take  bath  in  a 
private  room,  you  are  to  rent  a  special  bath  which 
is  called  the  kazoku-buro  (family  bath).  The  bath- 
tub in  this  private  room  is  large  enough  for  two 
or  three  persons  at  once,  and  when  you  rent  the 
room  by  paying  one  yen  per  hour,  you  can  lock  it 
up,  so  as  nobody  could  come  in  it  without  your 
consent. 

After  you  finished  supper  at  your  hotel  you  visit 
the  recreation  hall  named  the  Paradise.  People 
who  stay  several  days  at  the  summer  resort  become 
weary,  and  it  is  natural  that  the  hall  is  always  full 
of  them  specially  in  night.  Several  interesting  per- 
formances are  held  in  the  hall,  and  there  is  a 
swimming  place  of  a  large  scale  at  a  part  of  the 
hall — being  built  of  stone  too,  and  8  feet  deep  at  its 
central  part. 

The  streets  of  Takarazuka  is  the  aggregation  of 
hotels,  restaurants,  and  eating  -  houses ;  there  is  a 
theatre  which  opens  every  night  in  summer,  and 
a  number  of  geiko  spin  their  webs  to  catch  their 
victims  out  of  some  profligate  bath-takers. 

It  seems  that  there  are  superstitious  persons 
in  Osaka  much  more  than  in  Tokyo.  If  you  take 
a  walk  in  the  streets  of  Shimmachi  or  Sennichimae 
in  the  evening,  you  would  find  a  great  number  of 
night  stalls  along  the  both  sides  of  the  streets.  In 
Tokyo  the  greater  parts  of  the  summer  night  stalls 
consist  of  those  of  green  trees  and  grasses,  but  in 
Osaka  they  are  few,  while  those  of  toys,  cakes, 
and  earthenwares  are  as  numerous  as  they  are  in 

228 


OSAKA 

Tokyo.  You  wonder,  however,  that  there  you  find 
many  larger  and  smaller  stalls,  which  sell  small 
shrines,  altars,  and  all  other  furniture  necessary  for 
religious  ceremonies.  In  Tokyo  these  stalls  are 
limited  to  be  found  in  the  nights  of  the  Torinomachi 
(Grand  Eagle's  Festival)  in  November  and  in  the 
Toshino-ichi  (Markets  at  the  End  of  a  Year)  in 
December  only  ;  but  as  they  can  be  found  in  ordinary 
night  stalls  in  Osaka,  you  can  conclude  that  these 
religious  articles  are  sold  well  at  any  time  of  the 
year,  and  that  the  Osaka  citizens  are  far  more  pious, 
or  rather  superstitious,  than  the  Tokyo  people. 

The  street  Sennichimae  is  an  old  recreation  quarter 
for  the  Osaka  people,  full  of  shows,  theatres,  and 
other  performance  halls,  and  every  night  and  day 
throughout  all  seasons  the  street  is  crowded  with 
visitors.  On  your  way  of  strolling  in  the  street 
one  evening  you  happen  to  come  in  front  of  the 
gate  of  the  temple  Jianji,  dedicated  to  Bodhisattva 
Myoken,  and  your  curiosity  leads  you  to  enter  the 
gate  to  see  the  devotees,  who,  you  are  told,  throng 
to  the  temple  in  summer  evenings. 

The  large  hall  of  the  temple  is  full  of  the  wor- 
shippers of  all  classes  —  including  singing  -  girls, 
wives  of  labourers,  old  women,  workmen,  shop-boys, 
clerks,  and  merchants.  The  inner  front  of  the 
hall  is  provided  with  the  holy  altar,  over  which  a 
large  transom  hangs  down  from  the  ceiling.  Some 
of  the  worshippers  keep  a  bundle  of  small  bamboo 
sticks  in  their  hands,  and  every  time  they  make  a 
round  of  the  temple,  walking  dn  the  narrow  corridor 
around  its  four  sides,  they  throw  one  of  the  sticks 
into  a  box  furnished  in  front  of  the  altar  and  make 
a  prayer,  thus  continuing  their  rounds  until  the 
sticks  are  all  thrown  away,  one  by  one,  after  each 
round.  During  their  rounds  they  are  loudly 
repeating  the  motto,  "  Namu  myo  ho  ren  ge  kyo" 
so  entirely  absorbed  in  the  prayer  that  they  appear 
to  be  almost  in  stupor,  and  unless  you  are  very 

229 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

careful  in  crossing  the  corridor,  you  should  be 
successively  bumped  with  the  circulating  worshippers. 
There  are  others  who  keep  a  bundle  of  joss-sticks 
instead  of  bamboo  sticks ;  after  each  round  of  the 
temple  two  or  three  pieces  are  sticked  in  the  ashes 
in  the  large  metallic  fire-pot  under  the  altar.  The 
smokes  rising  out  of  thousands  of  burning  joss-sticks 
in  the  fire-pot  go  curling  round  the  altar  and  almost 
suffocate  the  people  in  the  hall. 

You  slip  out  of  the  temple  to  escape  from  the 
heat  and  smoke,  and  to  be  relieved  by  the  cool  night 
breeze  under  the  open  sky ;  but  the  small  temple 
grounds  are  further  narrowed  with  the  innumerable 
square  paper  lanterns  dedicated  to  the  temple. 
They  hang  on  the  stands  erected  on  the  ground, 
and  various  pictures  and  poems  or  songs  are  shown 
upon  them,  together  with  the  names  of  the  dedi- 
cators. Observing  on  the  real  life  of  the  citizens, 
you  may  conclude  that  Osaka  is  an  artificial  Hell  or 
Paradise ! 

One  evening  you  try  to  make  a  round  through  the 
geiko  quarters  of  the  city. 

In  Osaka  there  are  the  pastime  houses  called  the 
ochaya,  which  are  the  tea-houses  literally,  but  entirely 
different  from  those  in  Tokyo.  If  you  want  to  en- 
gage &  geiko,  first  you  have  to  go  and  give  order  to  one 
of  the  ochaya,  then  the  ochaya  makes  announcement 
to  the  mise,  or  the  office  of  the  geiko  guild  (equal  to 
the  Kemban  in  Tokyo),  and  the  office  despatches  a 
man  or  maid-servant  to  the  girl's  house,  which  is 
called  ftutyakata  ;  it  is  the  custom  in  Osaka  that  no 
girls  can  be  hired  unless  they  are  called  through  the 
ochaya.  There  are  no  cooks  in  any  ochaya,  as  the 
drinks  and  the  dishes  for  the  guests  are  taken  from 
restaurants.  If  you  go  to  a  restaurant  and  wish  to 
engage  a  girl,  the  process  is  rather  troublesome,  for 
first  the  restaurant  gives  the  notice  to  an  ochaya, 
which  informs  to  the  guild  office,  and  then  the  girl 
is  sent  for  by  the  office. 

230 


OSAKA 

There  are  another  kind  of  the  houses  called  the 
sekigashi,  which  cannot  be  found  in  Tokyo,  too. 
Sekigashi  means  the  room  for  hire.  If  you  wish  to 
come  to  the  sekigashi^  you  must  be  introduced  by  an 
ochaya.  Most  of  these  houses  are  found  near  the 
gay  quarters,  but  sometimes  some  of  them  can  be 
discovered  in  a  great  distance  from  them  —  the 
Shukintei,  the  Kagetsu,  the  Kosetsuken,  the  Tsuru- 
mura,  the  Onomatsu,  and  the  Takeshiki,  are  famous 
among  the  others.  The  business  of  the  sekigashi 
resembles  in  some  points  to  that  of  the  machiai 
(waiting-houses)  of  Tokyo,  but  there  is  a  difference 
between  the  two,  the  former  engages  the  girls  through 
the  ochaya^  while  the  latter  can  directly  hire  them. 

Among  several  quarters  of  the  singing-  and  dancing- 
girls  in  Osaka,  Nanchi  of  the  South  Quarter  is  said 
to  be  the  best,  the  girls  and  the  tea-houses  in  this 
quarter  being  very  gay  and  lively ;  it  is  said  they 
resemble  to  those  in  the  Shimbashi  Circle  of  Tokyo 
in  various  points.  In  this  quarter  the  street  So- 
emoncho  is  most  famous,  and  the  celebrated  belle 
Yachiyo  is  one  of  the  beauties  living  in  this  street. 

Kitano-shinchi,  or  the  North  Quarter,  is  proud  of 
the  noble  character  of  girls,  somewhat  comparable 
to  that  of  the  Yanagibashi  girls  in  Tokyo :  every- 
thing is  simple  and  plain,  the  girls  here  endeavour- 
ing to  get  the  fame  by  their  accomplishments  rather 
than  by  their  countenances  only.  Consequently,  if 
you  visit  the  quarter  in  daytime  and  ask  to  call  the 
girls,  those  of  the  first  class  here  do  not  appear  until 
they  have  finished  their  regular  lessons. 

Shimmachi  is  the  oldest  one  among  the  gay 
quarters  in  Osaka,  but  the  geiko  living  in  this  quarter 
are  rather  inferior  in  their  tone  to  those  in  the  north 
and  south  quarters.  They  are  conservative,  and 
if  they  be  more  progressive,  they  may  be  much 
improved.  Horie  is  another  quarter  of  the  geiko 
circle,  and  celebrated  for  the  multitude  of  the  experts 
on  the  Gidayu  songs  specially. 


231 


THE  NIGHTSIDE  OF  JAPAN 

Travellers  who  come  to  Osaka  could  not  omit 
to  pay  their  visits  to  the  following  noted  places : — 

The  old  castle  of  Osaka  is  the  relic  of  the  showy 
and  luxurious  life  of  the  Toyotomi  family,  having 
been  first  built  by  Hideyoshi  in  1584  A.D.  Among 
many  huge  stones  used  for  the  castle  walls,  you 
would  be  surprised  to  find  those  of  such  a  monstrous 
size  that  they  are  30  feet  long  and  20  feet  wide. 
At  present  the  castle  is  occupied  by  the  Fourth 
Division  of  the  Imperial  Army. 

Kita-no-mido,  or  the  North  Temple,  and  Minami- 
no-mido,  or  the  South  Temple,  are  the  two  largest 
Buddhistic  temples  noted  for  grandeur  of  their  build- 
ings. The  ground  of  the  shrine  Goryo  is  made 
one  of  the  parks,  and  in  this  precinct  Bunrakuza, 
the  theatre  of  the  puppet  shows,  characteristic  to 
Osaka,  in  accompaniment  of  the  dramatic  songs 
called  Jdruri,  is  very  popular  through  all  seasons. 
If  you  visit  the  graveyards  of  the  temples  Kowsiji 
and  Seigwanji,  you  would  find  the  old  tombs  of 
Monzaemon  Chikamatsu  and  Saikaku  Ihara  re- 
spectively ;  the  former  is  the  greatest  dramatist  and 
the  latter  notable  novelist,  both  in  the  age  of  the 
Tokugawa  Shogunate. 

Momoyama,  or  the  Peach  Hill,  is  famous  for  the 
flowers  of  peach-trees,  and  Sakura-no-miya,  or  the 
Cherry  Shrine,  is  the  site  noted  for  the  cherry 
blossoms.  Park  Nakanoshima  is  the  largest  among 
all  parks  in  the  city,  and  at  its  eastern  corner  the 
large  shrine  Toyokuni-jinsha  is  dedicated  to  Hide- 
yoshi Toyotomi,  the  founder  of  Osaka.  As  the 
park  is  surrounded  by  the  rivers  on  its  four  sides, 
the  people  gather  to  cool  themselves  off  in  summer 
evenings. 

The  street  in  front  of  the  shrine  Yasaka  is  the 
seat  of  the  great  market  of  Namba,  and  the  people 
come  in  crowds  early  on  every  morning.  The  shrine 
Imamiya  is  dedicated  to  Ebisu,  God  of  Luck,  and,  the 
9th  and  the  loth  January  every  year  being  the  great 

232 


OSAKA 

festival  days  of  the  shrine,  hundred  thousands  of 
pious  citizens  throng  up  to  pray  for  their  luck 
specially  in  night.  If  you  visit  the  shrine  on  the 
festival  days,  you  would  happen  to  meet  with  a  party 
of  a  beautifully  ornamented  open  palanquin  carried 
on  the  shoulders  of  strong  young  men  neatly  dressed. 
They  carry  it  running  in  full  speed.  The  palanquin 
is  called  the  Hoi-kago,  which  is  gorgeously  wrapped 
with  red  and  white  crapes  and  decorated  with 
artificial  cherry  flowers,  on  its  four  pillars  and  roof.  A 
very  renowned  beautiful  girl  of  the  South  Quarter 
circle  takes  her  seat  in  it,  in  order  to  pay  a  visit  to 
the  God  of  Luck.  The  girl's  palanquin  is  followed 
by  the  waitresses,  the  clerks,  and  servants  of  the 
restaurant  or  tea-house,  all  the  expenses  for  the 
exaggerated  way  of  the  girl's  visit  being  borne  by 
her  patron  guest.  The  visits  of  the  Hoi-kago  are 
repeated  from  early  morning  till  late  in  night  during 
the  festivals.  The  habit  of  the  flower-palanquins  for 
the  geiko  in  the  festival  of  God  Ebisu  is  pursued 
annually,  and  the  oftener  she  is  despatched  for 
worships  to  the  shrine  by  her  customers  the  more 
honourable  and  fortunate  she  is  thought  by  her 
friends,  as  well  as  by  the  people  in  her  circle. 

In  the  street  Dotombori  and  Sennichimae  you 
find  the  five  great  threatres  standing  in  a  row, 
encircled  with  variety  halls,  shows,  Gidayu  song  halls, 
and  eating-shops,  equal  to  the  similar  quarter  of 
Park  Asakusa  in  Tokyo.  Ikutama- jinsha  is  the 
greatest  shrine  in  the  city,  and  the  prospect  tower 
behind  the  shrine  can  command  the  whole  view  of 
the  Sea  of  Chinu  (Osaka)  and  the  picturesque  island 
of  Awaji.  Kotsu-jin-sha  is  the  shrine  of  the  Emperor 
Jintoku,  and  the  view  from  its  hall  of  votive  pictures 
is  excellent  on  snow  days.  Shitennoji  is  the  old 
temple  of  the  Tendai  Sect,  its  total  buildings  amount- 
ing to  over  forty,  and  its  extensive  compound  is 
appointed  a  public  garden  of  the  city. 

I  have  now  told  you  much  of  the  knowledge  of 

233 


THE  NIGHTSIDE   OF  JAPAN 

my  country  which  I  think  interests  you,  but  I  am 
making  a  work  on  the  "  Geisha "  or  singing-  and 
dancing-girls,  which  are  indispensable  objects  in 
the  society  of  Japan.  The  origin  and  development 
of  them,  and  their  life,  conduct,  character,  events, 
and  all  regarding  the  profession  of  these  girls  will 
be  explained. 


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3 


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An  interesting  account  of  Greek  myths,  illustrated  from  the  works  of 
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and  illustrated  from  the  works  of  ancient  sculptors  or  more  modern 
paintings. 

SECOND  PRINTING. 

R.  L.  Stevenson :  A  Record,  an  Estimate, 

and  a  Memorial.  By  ALEXANDER  H.  JAPP,  LL.D., 
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"  Dr  Japp  has  much  to  say  about  R.  L.  Stevenson  that  we  are  glad 
to  hear.  Altogether  this  is  a  very  informing  book,  a  contribution  of 
distinct  value  to  our  knowledge  of  R.  L.  Stevenson." — Spectator. 

Lady  Jim  of  Curzon  Street     By  FERGUS 

HUME,  author  of  "  The  Mystery  of  a  Hansom  Cab."  Cover 
design  by  CHARLES  E.  DAWSON.  Crown  8vo,  cloth 
gilt,  6s. 

While  this  is  a  smart  society  novel  in  place  of  his  more  familiar 
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excitement  from  his  first  page  to  his  last,  and  they  will  find  in  the 
book  just  those  qualities  which  have  made  his  works  so  popular. 

Playing  the  Knave.    By  FLORENCE  WARDEN, 

author  of  "The  House  on  the  Marsh."  Crown  8vo, 
cloth,  6s. 


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Most  of  them  are  very  beautiful  and  interesting,  and  these 
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CHATS  ON  VIOLINS 

By  OLGA  RACSTER.     Fully  Illustrated. 

A  series  of  pleasant  chats  telling  the  early  history  of  the 
violin,  and  also  dealing  with  all  the  better  known  forms  of  the 
violin.  All  the  great  makers,  from  Gasper  di  Salo,  Maggini, 
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CHATS  WITH  MUSIC  LOVERS 

By  Doctor  ANNIE  W.  PATERSON. 

How  to  Enjoy  Music — How  to  Practise — How  to  Sing — 
How  to  Compose — How  to  Read  Text  Books — How  to 
Prepare  for  Examinations — How  to  Get  Engagements — 
How  to  Appear  in  Public — How  to  Conduct — How  to 
Preside  at  the  Organ— How  to  Teach— How  to  Organise 
Musical  Entertainments — How  to  Publish  Music; 

CHATS  ON  THE  VIOLONCELLO 

By  OGLA  RACSTER.    18  Illustrations 

A  history  of  the  'cello  from  earliest  times  and  an  account 
of  the  great  makers  and  players.* 

WERNER  LAURIE,   CLIFFORD'S    INN,   LONDON 


THE  OLD  TIME  BOOKLETS 


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Some  Old  London  Memorials 

By  J;  W;  ROBERTS?    With  25  photographs  by  the 
author; 

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By  ELSIE  LANG;     17  illustrations. 

The  Pocket  Cathedral  Guide 

By  W;  J.  ROBERTS.     30  illustrations^ 

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By  T;  FRANCIS  BUMPUS. 

Cambridge  Cathedral 

By  R.  BRIMLEY  JOHNSON: 
WERNER    LAURIE,    CLIFFORD'S   INN,  LONDON 


JUST  PUBLISHED 

The  Origins  of  Popular 
Superstitions,  Customs 
and  Ceremonies 

By  T.  SHARPER  KNOWLSON 
Crown  &vo,  6s.  net 

We  meet  people  every  day  who  are  superstitions^  but 
who  can  give  no  intelligent  account  of  the  origin  of  those 
beliefs  that  it  is  dangerous,  for  instance,  to  sit  thirteen  at 
table,  or  to  break  a  looking-glass.  To  trace  a  habit  of 
thinking  and  of  action  to  its  source  is  frequently  to  dispel 
an  illusion  ;  at  any  rate,  the  interest  of  the  search  for 
origin  has  a  charm  all  its  own,  and  Mr  Sharper  Knowlson, 
working  on  the  basis  of  old  authorities,  has  brought  forth 
a  mass  of  attractive  exposition  respecting  popular  beliefs 
and  customs  which  cannot  fail  to  secure  the  reader's 
attention. 

BY   THE   SAME  AUTHOR 

The  Education  of  the  Will 

Crown  Sv0,  6s.  net 

Can  Will-power  be  trained  ?  If  so,  how  ?  These  are 
the  two  main  questions  before  Mr  Sharper  Knowlson  in 
'-•  The  Education  of  the  Will.'1  As  a  book  it  covers  the 
middle  ground  between  the  erudite  studies  of  professors  of 
medicine  and  psychology  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  ex- 
travagant literature  of  many  " New  Thought "  writers 
on  the  other  hand.  The  author's  aim  is  to  popularise  the 
results  of  research,  and  set  forth  in  a  strictly  practical 
manner  the  best  known  methods  of  developing  Will-power. 
The  volume  is  a  vigorous  attempt  to  combine  theory  with 
practical  wisdom. 

WERNER   LAURIE,   CLIFFORD'S   INN,   LONDON 


THE  ETERNAL  FIRES 

By  VICTORIA  CROSS 
6ft. 

VICTORIA  GROSS  has  hit  upon  a  very  original  idea  for  this 
book,  and  incidentally  she  shows  in  it  to  what  heights  a 
true  and  loving  woman  nowadays  may  rise.-  It  is  the 
story  of  a  beautiful  and  entirely  unsophisticated  girl,  who 
thrust  forth  from  a  very  sheltered  life,  is  forced,  in  her 
poverty,  to  earn  her  living  as  an  artist's  model:  A  certain 
event  which  had  occurred  while  she  was  still  at  school 
occupies  her  thoughts  and  she  is  quite  unconscious  of  the 
violent  passions  she  is  arousing  by  her  frank  intercourse 
with  those  she  meets  in  the  free  and  easy  intimacy  of  studio 
life;  Shocks  naturally  await  her,  and  two  of  the  men  she 
had  regarded  as  real  friends  prove  utterly  selfish,  while  a 
third  attempts  her  life;  Whether  she  can  win  through 
or  not  is  the  problem  always  facing  the  reader,  for  only 
the  highest  courage  can  avail  in  some  of  the  situations 
into  which  her  innocence  leads  her,  particularly  that  with 
which  the  book  ends? 

This  novel  shows  the  author's  talent  in  quite  a  new  light^ 
and  from  it  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  may  learn  more  than 
one  lesson  most  essential  in  the  present  day; 

WERNER  LAURIE,   CLIFFORD'S   INN,   LONDON 


athela*  date  stamped  below. 


REC'D  LD 

JUL  3    1962 


•  £41363 


JUL  1 1  1961 


JUL    . 


324468 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


